It’s Halloween Monday and the last day of what I would call a very “extreme” month weatherwise across much of the country and the world. On one western side of the country, we’ve had record rains in places while severe drought plagues the southeastern portion of the U.S.

As of late Sunday, Cliff’s station has close to 8 inches of rain, breaking the old monthly October record of 6.96 inches set back in 1951. We’ve also broken the record for days with precipitation. As of Friday, a record 23 days were reported with measurable precipitation. The old record was 22 days in 1951. Around other parts of North Idaho, historical data is somewhat limited. However, I’m certain that many other areas are seeing record rainfall as well.

As of late Friday, a few monthly totals around our region include Post Falls, which has received approximately 6 inches of rain for October. John in Hayden has reported over 6 inches of moisture. An observer in Rathdrum is over to 7.5 inches with Twin Lakes near a whopping 10 inches for this month. To the south, Plummer has also received nearly 8 inches of rain while Worley has measured approximately 7 inches of moisture. Kellogg is over 9 inches of rain for this month, just to name a few stations.

A new cooler than normal sea-surface temperature event, La Nina, was declared earlier this month by the Climate Prediction Center. As I’ve stated many times, when we see a new La Nina develop at this time of year, the chances are very good for a snowier than normal winter season. Last week, Cliff and I predicted that most stations across North Idaho will likely receive snowfall totals about 30 percent above average.

It looks like a good start for the season, especially in the mountains as more storms from the Pacific are expected to slam into our region through at least mid November. It’s quite possible that we could see our first flakes of snow in the lower elevations within the next 7 days. The next and best chance for measurable snowfall, is during the potentially active full moon cycle of November 14-20. There’s also the possibility we could see some pockets of freezing rain in November as well.

As far as the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, there may be enough snow for some of the resorts to open. Nov. 24, Thanksgiving Day, also falls in the middle of the last quarter lunar phase. Therefore, conditions may be good enough for those wanting to travel.

Some people have asked if this upcoming winter season could be as snowy as the ones back in the winter of 2007-08 when we gauged an all-time record 172.9 inches at Cliff’s station. Cliff and I don’t think this type of winter is due until around 2020 when we could have a much stronger La Nina and sunspot activity is forecast to be very low. But, anything is possible in this wild weather cycle of “extremes.”

We’ll never forget the tremendous snows back in 2007-08. The following winter, 2008-09 was another big year with 145.6 inches. The back-to-back winters of 2007-08 and 2008-09 produced an incredible 318.5 inches of snow, more than 100 inches greater than the previous two-year record total of 217.6 inches in 1915-16 and 1916-17.

While the Northwest is getting hit with a series of storms, conditions are the exact opposite across about 45 percent of the contiguous U.S. Although, California has been receiving some much-needed rainfall in October, the southern portion of the Golden State continues to be in severe drought conditions as this very dry weather pattern is now in its sixth year.

In the Southeast, many stations have received very little rainfall over the past several months. Dry conditions have expanded to eastern Oklahoma and Texas to Georgia and northward into Kentucky. Severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, covers much of northern Georgia and northeastern Alabama. Water shortages are now an issue for more than 33 million people in the Deep South.

It’s almost hard to believe that in late September, Louisiana was seeing above normal moisture late last month. Today, much of the state is abnormally dry. Even the Northeast has been experiencing drier than normal weather, especially along the coastlines of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts where these areas are in severe to extreme drought conditions.

Many of the long-term forecasts continue to call for drier than normal weather from Southern California to the Southeast into at least early 2017 with above normal moisture across the northern portions of the country. Get those snowblowers tuned up.

Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com