Much of North Idaho and surrounding regions enjoyed a nice summer season. It was a bit drier than normal overall and temperatures were close to normal. Despite a few showery periods, the early fall season has been pretty good as well.

For many years, Cliff and I have been talking about this cycle of Wide Weather “Extremes,” the worst in more than 1,000 years. Across the globe, we’ve seen tremendous drought, floods, storms, heat and cold, and there seems to be no end in sight.

Cliff has told me that there have been nine 500-Year or 1,000-Year floods in the U.S. this year. The normal is less than one. Since March of 2015, there have been more than a dozen flood events that were reported across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri. Last month, a whopping 31 inches of rain fell in two days in Louisiana. Tens of thousands of homes were flooded that led to at least 20,000 people being rescued from the high waters. That same storm also brought flooding to southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois. Total damage from that event was about $15 billion.

Data from the Southeast Regional Climate Center shows that from the middle of August in 2015 through the following year to the middle of August in 2016, Baton Rouge, La., picked up an unbelievable 98.83 inches of rain, the wettest period for that city in recorded history. The average rainfall for an entire year is just over 60 inches. The Bergstrom Airport near Austin, Texas, measured 67.86 inches over the same time period.

On Sept. 21-22, another one of those big floods was reported in southeastern Minnesota that resulted in the closing of numerous major highways as 3-14 inches of rain fell. Last June, there were heavy floods from West Virginia to the Mid-Atlantic states that damaged over 5,000 buildings.

Floods were not confined to the U.S. this year. In China’s Yangtze Basin and the northeastern portion of this giant country, heavy rains resulted in more than $33 billion in losses from high waters during the May through August period. A huge typhoon hit the Philippines, Japan, China and Korea in July causing $1.5 billion in damages.

During this cycle of “extremes,” where you have floods on one side, you’re going to have drought on the other. California will likely be entering its 6th year of dryness, especially in the southern portion of the state. Numerous wildfires have resulted from the dry conditions. Drought did actually plague the southern Great Plains in Texas in between the floods that led to drought relief payments to area farmers this summer.

Heat and drought in Utah has resulted in record low levels of the state’s Great Salt Lake. Over 100 boats on the lake’s southern shore are literally sitting high and dry that are unable to sail in the shallow waters.

We’re also seeing drought conditions currently expanding along the U.S. East Coast. In addition to the dryness, it was also very hot and humid in the Southeast as Savannah, Ga., had a record 69 straight days with temperatures at or above 90 degrees earlier this summer.

In other parts of the world, heat and drought were reported in India that resulted in $5 billion in damages and affected 330 million people. Readings were over 100 degrees in that part of the world for days-on-end. There are also rising concerns for the lack of water as one of India’s power stations had to be shut down for 10 days due to the shortage of water. That particular power station generates about 25 percent of India’s electricity and has never shut down until this year.

Temperatures in the Middle East during the summer were at near world-record levels with a high of 129 degrees this summer in Kuwait and Iraq. The hottest was in Death Valley with a 134-degree reading.

Record heat was also reported in Europe as Spain hit 115 degrees in September. The National Weather Service says that the U.S. broke nearly 15,000 records for the warmest minimum temperatures from May through September.

On the flip side, there was record cold reported in Europe as summer snows fell in Sweden. In southwestern Australia, the city of Perth had its coldest September in recorded history.

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In terms of our local weather, September was a little drier than normal in Coeur d’Alene. October should have precipitation totals a little higher than the 2.22 average. Cliff and I see a sun and showers weather pattern for the next few weeks. The chances are looking good for rain and even some mountain snow during the “full moon” week of Oct. 16. Then, there should be a brief dry period before more wet weather arrives around Halloween.

Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com