Cold may thaw a bit late in week

Much of the central and eastern U.S. continue to shiver as more frigid air plunged southward from Canada earlier this week. This is a pattern not typical of an El Nino, the warm sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Highs only managed to be in the 20s in the northern U.S. Normally mild Washington, D.C., had readings near 32 degrees on Tuesday, very unusual for mid-November.

These batches of very cold air have also brought record snowfalls to the central U.S. over the last week. For example, more than 50 inches of snow blanketed a small Wisconsin town. South Bend, Indiana, picked up more than a foot of new snow last Thursday, another all-time record for the date. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, received more than 6 inches in one day last week. This is only a small sampling of the tremendous cold and snowy pattern that is more typical of January and February, not November.

This period of extremely cold weather has also started to freeze parts of the Great Lakes. There are already sightings of ice on Lake Superior, where it normally doesn’t start to form until at least December. Last year, ice was first observed on Nov. 25 and did not melt until early June, which was the longest period of time that ice was present on the Great Lakes.

In our region, average temperatures have been 12 to 15 degrees below normal from Nov. 11 through 17. The coldest day in Spokane was on Nov. 11 with a high of only 27 degrees. Since last Thursday, the airport has reported readings near the freezing mark. In parts of Coeur d’Alene, highs never made it above 32 degrees from Nov. 11-17. The normal highs at this time of year are in the low 40s.

By late this week, weather pattern is changing and temperatures will be moderating, and we’ll start to see more precipitation through the end of November.

There is the chance of light snow near Thanksgiving and into early December.