This year’s been a record breaker

More than 7,000 weather records have fallen across the U.S. since Jan. 1. Nearly 60 percent of them were for high or high-minimum temperatures.

Since early August, much of the Southeast has been baking with record triple-digit heat, with some stations recording highs of 100 to 107 degrees. In this part of the world, readings over 100 degrees combined with high humidity levels make for hazardous heat indexes. By contrast, flooding rains have been plaguing the Upper Midwest, where many corn farmers are telling us that their crops are “literally underwater.”

Each Tuesday, we’ll feature the previous week’s weather records and extremes in The Spokesman-Review’s weather report, on page A2. For the week of Aug. 19-25, nearly 350 weather records were either tied or broken. Once again, most were of the warm variety. For more detailed information, go to www.ExtremeWeather Records.com.

Here in the Inland Northwest, we’ve been recently experiencing a back-and-forth weather pattern of sunny and very warm days and cloudy days with lower temperatures. We received some much-needed moisture over two weeks ago. The rain was brief, but extremely beneficial. The region’s precipitation is still well below the seasonal normal and fire danger is still high. The ground is still very dry as much of the rain was absorbed by thirsty trees and other vegetation. Pacific storms are still moving toward our region, but a strong ridge of high pressure has been either weakening these systems or pushing them to the north across Canada.

Since Jan. 1, moisture totals at the Spokane International Airport have totaled exactly 7 inches. The normal is about 10.3 inches. Last year, we were above normal with 12.78 inches. For August, the airport has received four-tenths of an inch of moisture, slightly below average for the month.

In Coeur d’Alene, 13.16 inches of moisture has been gauged, compared with a normal of over 15.5 inches. Last year, over 21.1 inches of rain and melted snow was measured.

Longer-term weather patterns continue to have that strong ridge of high pressure locked in over much of the western U.S. However, the chances for some measurable rainfall do increase around the second week of September. Toward the middle to the end of next month, though, the high pressure system will rebuild, giving us more dry and warm weather with only occasional shower activity. Summer may see one last gasp in late September as temperatures climb into the 80s. And, despite the drier weather, we should see more total precipitation in September than what we saw in August.

Pacific storms should start to become more frequent toward the middle to the end of October. We still have a rather weak La Nina lower than normal sea-surface temperature event in the south-central Pacific. This pattern usually means a wetter than normal fall in the Inland Norhwest.

Last year the region endured much drier than normal weather in October. But, the rains returned in a big way in November. Once the moisture started to fall, it seemed like it never wanted to stop. It’s possible we could see periods of heavier rainfall in late October, with heavier rains becoming more likely in late November and early December.

I’m already being asked on how much snow will fall in the upcoming winter season. It’s still too early to tell at this stage. However, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see plenty of snow in the mountains with rain and snow in the lower elevations, similar to last year.