Dry weather across the globe

The summer of 2025 has been very warm to hot across much of the western U.S. Here in Coeur d’Alene, we’ve already had six days with high temperatures at or above the 90-degree mark. Our hottest day was 96 degrees July 1.

In California, highs in the Central Valley topped 100 degrees in late June and early July. As I mentioned in an earlier article, the eastern portion of the country has been dealing with oppressive heat and high humidity levels, and the official start of summer began around two weeks ago. That first big heatwave of the summer season began in the U.S. Great Plains and then expanded into the Midwest and Great Lakes before moving across the East Coast. In addition to the heat, we’ve also seen disastrous and heartbreaking flooding east of the Rockies, especially in central Texas.

The long-range forecasts are continuing to indicate a hotter and drier summer across much of the western U.S. After we had a break from the 90s over the weekend, the hot weather will be in force in Coeur d’Alene and the rest of the Inland Northwest this week. There is a chance we could see some scattered showers or isolated thunderstorms around the middle of July, but the big high-pressure system that is responsible for the hot and dry conditions is expected to strengthen, leading to more hot and dry weather in the region.

With an expected dry and hotter first part of the summer season, it’s possible that the second portion of summer may not be as hot or as dry. Eventually, weather patterns in this part of the country will flip to the other side. It’s difficult to say at this time how much moisture we’ll receive in the late summer and fall. If the moisture is not plentiful, then we could challenge the driest year since records began in 1895. Currently, Cliff and I are forecasting an annual total of just over 20 inches in Coeur d’Alene. If that turns out to be the case, it wouldn’t be the driest year, but certainly one of the driest.

Despite the arid conditions, there are places that barely receive any moisture. The most arid spot on Earth is Chile’s Atacama Desert, about 18 degrees south of the equator. Often, years pass without any measurable moisture being gauged at a small village called Arica. A neighboring town, Iquique, once went an amazing 11.5 years without rain, from November 1945 to May 1957. The normal annual rainfall in Arica is just 0.03 inches. Iquique averages a mere .07 inches per year.

The polar regions are likewise extremely dry. The South Pole Station in Antarctica has averaged only 0.08 inches of snowmelt over the past five decades. The McMurdo Dry Valleys, also located in Antarctica, receive virtually no moisture at all, as the average annual moisture is near zero. The region is a polar desert and is considered to be an environment that is similar to Mars.

Arctic Bay, located in Canada’s Northwest Territories, averages only 0.09 inches of moisture in a calendar year. The driest year ever was 1949 with 0.05 inches of precipitation.

The longest rainless stretch on record in the country occurred in Baghdad, Calif., when no measurable rain fell for 767 consecutive days from Oct. 3, 1912, to Nov. 8, 1914, more than two full years!

In the U.S., the driest locations are all in the western portions of the country. The No. 1 location for dry weather is Death Valley, Calif. Its average rainfall each year is approximately 2 inches. This region holds the “official” record for the highest air temperature of 134.1 degrees, set July 10, 1913. The summer is always blistering hot as the average reading at that time of year is close to 115 degrees.

According to Science.org, the Lut Desert in Iran and the Sonoran Desert near the U.S. and Mexico border are hotter. Based on high-resolution satellite data, temperatures were estimated to be close to 177 degrees. In these regions, there are no World Meteorological Organization weather stations for verification, so these readings are not considered to be official.

Yuma, located in southwestern Arizona, receives about 3 inches of rain per year. Las Vegas is third with an average of around 4.2 inches per year. Other dry regions in the western U.S. are in the deserts of California that include Barstow, Needles and El Centro.

Locally in the Inland Empire, the driest year on record for both Spokane and Coeur d’Alene was in 1929. Only 7.54 inches of precipitation was measured in Spokane in 1929 compared to the annual normal of about 16 and a half inches. Coeur d’Alene, much wetter with an average rainfall since 1895 of 26.77 inches, gauged 15.18 inches in 1929.

And, talk about extremes. On July 20, 2006, China’s Qaidam Basin, which is located near the mountains on the Tibetan Plateau, unofficially went from an estimated -10.7 degrees to 136.6 degrees in one day. That’s a change of 147.3 degrees!

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Contact Randy Mann at [email protected].