COEUR d’ALENE — Impugned climatologist Cliff Harris has a message for those he says are damaging his reputation: Apologize or face the consequences.

Harris is in the middle of a storm over the official snowfall total in Coeur d’Alene between midnight Friday and midnight Saturday, Jan. 11, which involves three key players: Clark’s Diamond Jewelers in Coeur d’Alene, an insurer called Spectrum Weather and Specialty Insurance, and another company called Weather Command.

Clark’s ran a holiday promotion stating that if 3 or more inches of snow fell on Jan. 11, it would refund all customer purchases made between Nov. 22 and Dec. 31. Harris, a weather professional who has plied his trade for more than six decades and operates a weather station complete with Doppler radar at his home in central Coeur d’Alene, registered 3.6 inches of snow in that 24-hour period.

However, Weather Command, the official reporter to Spectrum Weather, said only 1.8 inches of snow fell, and Spectrum Weather has thus far declined to pay the insurance claim from Clark’s.

On Tuesday, Harris threatened to sue those he said “are calling me a liar.” On Wednesday, Harris said he’d been inundated with calls of support.

“I’ve been hearing from people across the country,” he said. “They’ll come from Iowa and Illinois to testify for me if we go to court.”

But he said there’s another way to resolve the dispute.

“I just want the restoration of my good name,” he said. “They do that, I will drop the lawsuit.”

Harris had said he’d seek $1.5 million in his lawsuit, triple the damages that Spectrum Weather would have had to pay Clark’s. All he wants, however, is the good reputation he enjoyed before his integrity was questioned, he said.

“It’s not the money,” Harris said. “It’s never been about the money.”