New year begins by setting records
What a weather roller-coaster ride we’re on. Record high temperatures, extreme cold, record rainfall, and damaging winds have all occurred in the first two weeks of the month.
Some of the records that have been broken across the area recently include a record high of 50 degrees Fahrenheit in Kellogg on Jan. 3, record 24-hour precipitation of 1.18 inches at St. Maries on Jan. 3, record 24-hour precipitation of .97 inches in Sandpoint on Jan. 8, and a record high of 50 degrees in Sandpoint on Jan. 10.
Windstorms on Jan. 7 and again on Jan. 9 and 10 resulted in power outages and damage and included gusts of 45 mph in Post Falls, 53 mph in Worley, 58 mph in Coeur d’Alene and 54 mph in Bayview. Just last week, bitter cold temperatures dipped below zero across the Panhandle. Coeur d’Alene had a low of minus 3 on Jan. 12, the coldest temperature since Jan. 15, 2005, when the mercury plunged to 6 below zero. That same morning, Garwood reported a chilly morning low of 11 below zero. Icy roads are one of the hazards of the cold weather. A Jan. 4 snowstorm across the Palouse caused hundreds of traffic accidents on both U.S. Highway 195 and U.S. 95 and resulted in the roads being closed for a short time. The storm occurred during the afternoon, when area air temperatures were at 32 degrees or slightly above, though icy roads as well as snow-packed roads were being reported. A National Weather Service report showed that pavement temperatures can differ significantly from the air temperature, resulting in icy conditions even when the air temperature is above freezing.
Traffic can also turn snowy roads into icy ones. Even when temperatures are below freezing, snow on roads can melt when heavy vehicles drive over it. The laws of physics dictate that an increase in pressure results in an increase in temperature. As cars drive over the snow, the snow is not only compacted but can be partially melted as well. With cold enough temperatures, the melted snow quickly refreezes, leaving an icy glaze over what initially was a snow-covered road.
As you can imagine, it takes very little snow for this to occur, and the results are numerous traffic accidents when the winter weather conditions don’t look particularly menacing.
El Niño update
Though El Niño conditions (abnormal warming of the ocean waters) across the equatorial Pacific are forecast to continue for the next three months, it looks like the temperature anomalies (their departure from what is considered average) have already reached their peak and are weakening.
November and December did end up with warmer-than-normal temperatures overall, which is what is usually expected during an El Niño fall/winter. Precipitation amounts, however, were quite a bit above normal, especially in November, which might be expected during a very strong El Niño event, which this one was not.
Overall, warmer and drier-than-normal conditions are expected for the latter half of winter, based on typical El Niño year leanings. The atmosphere is very complex, however, and though the El Niño/La Niña pattern can influence our seasonal weather from one direction to another, it is not the sole dictator of global weather conditions.
Outlook for week ahead
Though temperatures have finally risen closer to seasonal normals, it looks like we have the potential to see another arctic blast across the area by next weekend.