We had a big change in the weather pattern late last week. Potent storms have brought moderate to heavy rainfall and strong winds. The storm that came in on Thursday and into Friday brought 1.19 inches of rain to Coeur d’Alene with a wind gust of 48 miles per hour at Cliff’s station in Northwest Coeur d’Alene.

October of 2016 is certainly going to be much wetter than normal for much of the Inland Northwest. As of late Sunday, Coeur d’Alene has received 1.57 inches of rain since Thursday, taking the monthly total to just under 4 inches. The normal is 2.22 inches with the all-time record standing at 6.96 inches back in 1951.

Despite the strong winds and heavy rainfall, in terms of wind, the storm last November was bigger. On Nov. 16, 2015, a system of historic proportions slammed into the northwestern portion of the country. Very strong winds led to numerous power outages, downed trees and power lines and damaged buildings. Over one million people were left without power across the Northwest. In our region, about 180,000 people lost power. During the big ice storm in 1996, there were about 100,000 people without electricity.

On that November day, winds were gusting to 60 miles per hour at Cliff’s station out on Player Drive. The highest wind gust at the Coeur d’Alene Airport was 58 miles per hour. The highest wind speed reported in Idaho was in Bonner County at Colburn with a whopping 101 mile per hour gust. In Kootenai County, winds at Huetter hit 67 miles per hour. Magee Peak in Shoshone County had a gust of 82 miles per hour. Worley reported 60 miles per hour and Post Falls had a gust of 55 miles per hour.

The strongest wind gust in eastern Washington last November occurred at the Mission Ridge Ski Area in Chelan County with an incredible gust of 137 miles per hour. One observer near Wenatchee reported a gust of 101 miles per hour. Comparing these wind speeds to hurricanes, a Category 1 storm has sustained winds of 74 miles per hour. The wind gust at the Mission Ridge Ski area was in the Category 4 range of a hurricane.

In terms of storms that bring us a lot of rain and wind, the majority occur in the fall and spring season. They are sometimes called or known as Big Blows. They will form in the eastern Pacific Ocean and often originate from the Gulf of Alaska. This is a period when the cold air from the north and warm air from the south is vying for position. The bigger the collision of these air masses, the bigger the storms. The one that hit our region last Thursday and Friday also tapped into moisture from the remnants of a typhoon in the western Pacific Ocean.

The Office of Washington State Climatologist says that our region will experience several windstorms per year with wind gusts between 39 and 44 miles per hour. In the Windstorm Category, these systems are listed as “minor.” We see an average of one “moderate” windstorm with winds between 45 and 54 miles per hour each year. When winds gust between 55 and 64 miles per hour, the category becomes “major.” These occur once every 2 to 3 years. Strong winds with gusts between 65 and 74 miles per hour, which are listed as “extreme,” occur once every 5 to 10 years. When we see one of those big storms with winds at or above 75 miles per hour once every 25-50 years, this is “phenomenal” in the windstorm category.

In terms of our local weather, we will see occasional rain through the end of the week and winds will be gusty at times. Then, as we get into the usually drier than normal last quarter lunar cycle, high pressure is expected to briefly rebuild into the region. I’m not expected to see as much moisture during the last full week of October as we’ve seen recently. However, we should get a number of days with that late night and early morning fog pattern.

Moisture should start to increase in our region around Halloween and into early November with the possibility of a few snowflakes in the lower elevations as we get into the new moon lunar cycle. Our best chance for snow in Coeur d’Alene and surrounding areas is during the full moon cycle of Nov. 14-20.

Sea-surface temperatures are cooling down once again, so the chances for a snowier than normal winter season across the Inland Northwest are looking good. We’ll have a detailed city-by-city snowfall forecast next week.

Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com