Rain welcome in our area
There have been seven years in which the month of August was rainless. This August won’t be added to the list, as welcome rainfall finally arrived last Sunday and Monday.
It wasn’t a whole lot of rain, bringing .27 inches to the Coeur d’Alene area and .38 inches to Spokane. But the clouds and wet weather also brought a refreshing cool change with highs only in the mid- and upper 60s, nearly 20 degrees below normal. Unlike the year 2004, when 1.5 inches of rain swamped the North Idaho Fair, this year’s weather returned quickly to a warm and dry pattern, making for great fair-enjoying conditions. It looks like additional chances for rainfall for the remainder of the month will be few and far between, which will leave us far short of the August normal of 1.27 inches.
Just as unsettled weather moved across the Inland Northwest, it seems as if the switch was turned on in the tropics as well. Hurricanes Flossie and Dean, as well as tropical storm Erin, were just the beginning in what is supposed to be a more active hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center released its updated forecast on Aug. 9 and called for an increased likelihood of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season.
Though at first, it would seem that this kind of information would only be important to folks living in coastal states such as Florida, Louisiana, or Texas, the effects of hurricanes, tropical storms and even tropical depressions can be felt far from the warm ocean waters.
Oklahoma, not known for its surfing or sandy beaches, definitely suffered as a result of the remnants of Erin. Rainfall totals up to 11 inches were reported in Oklahoma City and the surrounding area last week, resulting in devastating flooding. Associated storms also brought wind gusts in excess of 80 mph and even a few tornadoes. What may be more remarkable was the fact that the remnants of Erin re-intensified over Oklahoma last Sunday, resulting in what looked like an “Oklahoma hurricane” on the radar loop (go to http://www.wunder ground.com/hurricane/2007 /erin_okc.gif to see for yourself).
States as far north as the Great Lakes can also feel the effects of tropical storms as they move north from the Gulf of Mexico and weaken. The remnants of these storms cause heavy rains and flooding from the central plains through the Ohio Valley, while Atlantic storms can still wreak havoc northward to New England.
Though hurricanelike formations sometimes show up in satellite or radar images over the U.S., hurricanes cannot form over land. These monster storms are like large engines that run off the fuel of heat and moisture over warm ocean waters. Sea surface temperatures need to reach a minimum of about 80 degrees in order to support hurricane formation. Cooler currents off the West Coast of the United States are not warm enough to support these types of storms, which is why the West is never threatened. The spiraling nature of a hurricane is a result of its center of low pressure. For the same reason winds blow counterclockwise around an area of low pressure over land, tropical storms and hurricanes get their spin. It is noteworthy that tornadoes, which mostly spin counterclockwise, can and do spin clockwise as well.
Though we might feel insulated here in the Inland Northwest from the effects of any tropical weather, moisture from Pacific tropical cyclones (which can be called hurricanes or typhoons, depending on their location) can be transported into our region from thousands of miles away via the southwest flow, potentially leading to wet weather for us.