El Niño making for warm winter

Earlier this month, we saw our heaviest snowfall at the Spokane International Airport, exactly 3.3 inches. Some of the mountain ski areas received as much as 6 to 14 inches of snow, to the delight of many skiers and snowboarders.

From Dec. 3 to 14, we were locked in a deep freeze that featured high temperatures below the freezing mark of 32 degrees. On Dec. 8, the mercury dropped to a frigid 1 degree and it was a bone-chilling minus 2 degrees at Coeur d’Alene. But by Dec. 16, afternoon highs soared to a mild 45 degrees in Spokane. By the next morning, more than half of the snowpack was gone, washed away in short order by thawing conditions comprised of moderate rains, gusty southerly winds and above-normal temperatures, quite typical for a generally warmer-than-normal El Niño winter season.

By extreme contrast, by last Dec. 24 during a frigid La Niña period, we had already received a whopping 45.1 inches of snow at the airport. Buildings were beginning to collapse from the tremendous weight of the almost daily heavy accumulations of wet snow.

For the season, we’ve only had 8.8 inches of snow, with 4.1 inches falling in December.

The last month of this year started out with an average temperature around 10 degrees below normal. As of early this week, the mean reading was 5 degrees below average.

Despite the cold and cloudy conditions, the number of sunlight hours will be increasing from this point. Monday was the official start of winter and also the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight hours.

Our planet has an elliptical orbit around the sun. Earth is actually closest to the sun on our first day of winter. However, the 23.5-degree tilt of Earth is what gives us our seasons. At this time of year, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the direct rays of the sun. The Southern Hemisphere, by contrast, is now in its summer as it is now tilted toward the sun. During our summer in the Inland Northwest, we are tipped toward the sun, even though the Earth is farther away from that shining star.

Whatever the weather, have a great holiday season!