Randy Mann: Inland Northwest has been snowiest in February

February has been the snowiest month across the Inland Northwest for the 2013-14 season.

Sunday and Monday’s storm dropped 8.3 inches across Spokane and more than 10 inches in Coeur d’Alene. With the additional snowfall, the seasonal total at the airport, as of early Tuesday, stands at 31.7 inches compared to a normal of about 40 inches. In addition to the snow, another round of bitterly cold weather is due by this weekend.

As mentioned in previous articles, it’s been an extreme winter across much of the country. California and the Southwest are suffering through one of the worst droughts in recorded history. However, east of the Rockies, there have been an amazing 17 Arctic blasts from the north sending temperatures to frigid levels all the way south to the Gulf Coast. The record was 13 Arctic outbreaks in the winter of 1978-79. The Great Lakes are also 80 percent frozen over, a record for so late in the season.

Earlier this month, parts of Arkansas and Tennessee had record snows and morning lows in the single digits. Jonesboro, Ark., has never seen such a harsh winter season.

The extreme weather has resulted in crop losses across the country. Severe damage from the drought in California is expected to lead to $450 million in crop damage or losses. There were crop losses in winter grains, citrus and vegetable crops this winter in parts of Oklahoma, Texas and Mexico. The Florida citrus crops and vegetables have so far been spared, but the winter season is not over yet.

The cold resulted in critical shortages of propane, which is the main source of heat for nearly 6 million households in the country.

The rest of the planet is also experiencing this extreme weather. Tokyo measured nearly a foot of snow, the most snow in 45 years in the nation’s capital, more than double the normal snow of just 4.3 inches for an entire winter season.

Record snows have also hit parts of Eastern Europe since mid-December. As much as 10 feet of snow has fallen in the Dolomites of northern Italy and the Balkans. More record snows have fallen in Scotland, northern Ireland and parts of Scandinavia. To make matters worse, a major ice storm hit the United Kingdom earlier this month and another storm brought 100 mph winds.

England observed its wettest January since weather records were first kept on a daily basis almost 250 years ago. December was the third-wettest on record, and the first half of February was the second-wettest ever.

In terms of our local weather, we should continue to see periods of rain and snow for the next several weeks. Around the middle of March, temperatures should warm into the 60s and perhaps even the 70s in some places as conditions start to dry out, at least for a little while.