Warmer weather is on the way – really

Warm weather has finally arrived. But will it last?

That sounds like the weather tease from one of the local TV stations. But with tomato, basil, and pepper plants floundering from the below normal temperatures from the last 5 weeks, and kids starting to get out for summer vacation, many are probably wondering when we will start seeing more summerlike conditions. In Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, the month of May through the first 11 days of June saw overall temperatures more than 3 degrees below normal. Three degrees doesn’t sound like much, but you have to remember that the number is taken from the average daily highs and lows throughout the period. There were many days where afternoon highs were 10 to 15 degrees below normal, but because of cloud cover or wind, overnight lows ended up warmer than normal. Idaho, as a whole, saw the second coldest May on record.

Nationally, temperatures were near normal for the month of May. While the entire western half of the U.S. saw below normal temperatures, the eastern half had above normal temperatures to even everything out! The below normal temperatures across the western U.S. was good news for fire weather. Only 5,159 new wildfires were reported for the month of May, the lowest May number in the last 11 years.

Heavy rains have been another interesting story. While Coeur d’Alene had not been suffering from lack of precipitation, Spokane had been in a significant rainfall deficit up until the last week of May. At the Spokane airport, 3.08 inches of rain fell from May 26 through June 10, resulting in an annual total of 8.82 inches which is now .66 inches above normal. Washington state as whole had its third wettest May on record. Coeur d’Alene rainfall is 3.28 inches above normal for the year so far with 15.52 inches, with just over 2 inches of rain seen in the first 10 days of June.

In answer to the earlier question of whether warm weather was here to stay, the computer models are showing at least a good stretch of warm – even some hot weather – through June 19. Normal highs for this time of year are low-70s with low temperatures averaging in the upper 40s. For the summer season as a whole (June, July and August), the current long range models are not showing a definitive trend of temperatures being above or below normal, but do indicate somewhat drier than normal conditions.