Whoosh! Happy spring!
Tom Hasslinger | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 7 months AGO
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Steve Pedersen carries broken branches from a fallen tree Tuesday after he sectioned the log to clear his neighbor's driveway in Coeur d'Alene. High winds caused the top of the tree to snap, blocking the driveway.</p>
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Julie Nash, heads home after walking her dog Yukon in the windy, wet and cold weather during the first day of spring Tuesday in Coeur d'Alene.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - In like a lion, out like a - oh, forget it.
We know the drill by now.
Tuesday marked the first day of spring, according to the calendar, but anyone who spent time outdoors on the vernal equinox had to be 100 percent stuck in the winter state of mind.
Rain, sleet - or was that hail? - and nearly two inches of snow fell Tuesday.
"I think it's funny that people who lived here so many years are surprised by it," said Carrie Swan, bundled in a winter parka as she walked to work, unfazed by the conditions because she has lived here all her life. "It's to be expected."
Others said the same.
Seems nobody was caught off guard that it was more like winter than spring even though temperatures, which peaked Tuesday at 44 degrees, are around 15 degrees colder than normal for this time of year.
"It is still March," said Cliff Harris, regional climatologist. "It's only the first day of spring."
Yeah, but still.
"It's not too depressing, because it's North Idaho," said Kim Rowe, North Idaho College student, while on her way to class.
Her garden at home is frozen, she said, and everything about the weather was "bleak" or horrible.
The high winds made trash day a mess at her home too.
"Today's trash day," she said. "And I have trash all over my yard."
Winds whipped between 40 and 50 miles per hour across the Inland Northwest, according to the National Weather Service Spokane office. Around 1:30 p.m., winds snapped a tree in half on North 12th Street. About 20 feet of timber came crashing down, exploding all over the Coeur d'Alene home's driveway.
"It sounded like metal to me, like a big trash can, a big kind of crash," said neighbor Steve Pedersen, who chopped up and stacked the tree remains for his neighbor, who was at work.
"Any excuse to use a power tool, I'm all for it," he said.
More snow could fall today, after the 1.7 inches that fell Tuesday. Rain should keep up, with wind gusts, through the next several days.
Temperatures should reach the 50s by the weekend, Harris said. While the cold spell is coming from the Gulf of Alaska, plenty of people east of the Rocky Mountains are experiencing summer-like weather from a warm spell basking that side of the divide. Closer to home?
"Spring is the new winter," said Brian Landers, North Idaho native, undaunted by the harsh weather. He classifies North Idaho's four seasons as "pre-winter, winter, post winter and August."