News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Sadly, this morning, I found yet another causality of the high tension power lines that cross over North Dam Park. Since I’ve been walking the area, about eight or nine months, I’ve witnessed three bird fatalities. The first was a dead Canada goose, second was a dead gull species and today, a night hawk. Though still alive and breathing heavily, it was obviously in bad shape. I moved it into the grass and off the gravel road. My observations are, at best, casual. Interestingly, all the bir...
I’m still wiping my brow of perspiration from all that heat. The National Weather Service reported some near- and new-high temperature records throughout the region. Here at the home weather station we had a new record of 102.3°F on July 2. We recorded a total of 18 days at or above the 90°F mark. We didn’t come close to the all-time high of 113°F that occurred in 1939. Our low for the month was on the 13th at 52.9°f. Precipitation was a measly 0.29 inches, well below the mean of 0.48 inches.... Full story
June was wetter than the month’s mean. We measured 1.32 inches of precipitation at the home weather station compared to a mean of 0.99 inches. Our high temperature was 92.9°F and occurred on the last day, while the coldest day of June was on June 1 at 44.8°F. Records for June are: highest rainfall - 4.29 inches in 1937; lowest rainfall - 0.04 inches in 2003; one day maximum - 2.31 inches in 1996. I was recently asked by a reader of this column to define the difference between the words “average... Full story
A dry April into a dry May I’ve been checking into the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center’s three-month prediction (June, July and August), and it states, “…an equal chance of above or below normal temperatures and below normal precipitation.” April 2013 wasn’t a wet one with only 0.91 inches of precipitation. We seem to be on course, here’s a review of some past Aprils (2012 – 1.08 inches, 2011 - .84 inches, and 2010 – 1.12 inches). The high temperature in April was 78.5°F wh... Full story
The mean precipitation for March was 0.82 inches, though here at the home weather station we only received 0.36 inch, a huge variance from last year’s March total of 2.64 inches. What a difference a year makes, hey. Temperature-wise, this March we had a mean of 42.5°F (41.1°F mean) with a monthly low of 22.2°F (record low 0.0°F) accompanied by a monthly high of 71.6°F (record 74.0°F). So, we were off by a half inch in precipitation and generally near averages for temperatures. As I write t... Full story
Dry indeed, February brought a parching 0.09 inch of precipitation that included 0.6 inch of fresh snow. The mean precipitation is 0.92 inch while we had a high of 3.58 inches back in 1940. Mean snowfall is 2.5 inches. So, as you can see, we were behind by about 90 percent. Temperatures were higher, as well. The mean for February here at the home weather station was 34.2°F, while the historical mean is 32.7°F. That’s a 1.5°F uptick from the mean. The low for the month was 24.1°F (average minim... Full story
Reviewing data from the past four Januarys shows we didn’t have any changes from the normal. We had good, measurable snowfall this year (2013, 7.3 inches) and last (2012, 9.9 inches). Here’s how it broke down for 2013 and showing all-time records in parenthesis. High temperature 46.0°F(record is 61°F), low 12.7°F (record -17°F), mean 26.5°F (record 36.1°F), total precipitation 0.60 inches (2.25 inches) and snowfall 7.3 inches (21.6 inches). January was nothing to write home about. Given the... Full story
Reviewing data sets for December 2011 and 2012 shows we were a bit warmer and wetter. Our low for December 2012 was 21.9°F compared to 2011, which was 16.4°F. That’s a 5.5 degree difference. The all-time low temperature for December was a minus 16°F in 1968, while the mean low is 29.6°F. Precipitation shows a difference of 1.63 inches. We measured 2.12 inches for 2012, while in 2011 we received only 0.49 inches. Snow accumulation for December 2012 was 6.4 inches and in 2011 just 1.3 inches. For... Full story
Our snowfall certainly wasn’t anything to get too thrilled about. Over a two-day period, the Dec. 10-11, we got 1.9 inches of snowfall here at the home weather station. That’s slightly more than the November mean of 1.4 inches. Mean precipitation for November is 1.25 inches, while we recorded a meager half inch here at home. For the year, we are well above our average precipitation of 10.50 inches, currently at 13.56 inches here at home. We had a November mean temperature at 40.9°F, below the... Full story
If the presence of snow indicates winter’s arrival along with less daylight, I’d say winter is here. So far, here at the home weather station, we’ve had 1.9 inches of snow with rapid melt-off. We’ve had three days of low temperatures below the freeze level, too. The coldest being 21.6°F. More of those to come, I’m sure. Here’s a tip of the hat to winter. November can be cold and the records show that in 1985 we had a -10°F. Our mean temperature is 37.5°F. Mean precipitation is 1.25 inches an... Full story
The start of October has been really pleasant fall weather. It really is a nice treat. Our first recorded low back in the 30°F range occurred on Oct. 4. The last 30°F range low was way back on May 12. We are still dry -- way too dry, frankly -- and we are all reminded of that fact with the recent wildfires that have occurred around our region. Excluding the 0.01 inch of rain on Sept. 8 here at the home weather station, we haven’t seen any rain since July 20 -- that’s 80 days as of this writi... Full story
We were visited by quite a nice line of thunderstorms on July 20. I watched these storms approach from the south that afternoon on the Spokane National Weather Service radar on their website. The storms were impressive as were the speeds they travelled. Here at the home weather station we ended up with a half inch of rain and a 40 mph wind gust in just over an hour. Extensive damage occurred here in our communities and many of you heard that North Central Washington was hit hard by those... Full story
June came and went, squeezing out a high temperature of only 84.9°F that was the lowest high temperature for June in the past four years (1938 saw a record 105°F). The mean temperature for June is 65.6°F and we recorded only 61.8°F. Precipitation provides us with another story. We had 3.4 inches of rain here at the home weather station, highest amount in past four years. A gully washer occurred on the 26th. Mean precipitation for June is 0.99 inches, so we were well over that but we did... Full story
This past May brought us our third consecutive year with a below mean temperature for our region of Washington state. The mean for May is 58.5°F. Here is what I’ve recorded at the home weather station over that past four years. 59.4°F (2009), 54.3°F (2010), 54.5°F (2011) and 57.3°F (2012). We almost cracked the 90-degree mark on May 15th with an 89.3°F. That was only one of three days at 80 degrees or above. Precipitation has been all over the chart. This year I ended the month with only 0.... Full story
April brought us a wide spread of temperatures here at the home weather station. I recorded a low of 27.3°F (April 1) and a high of 84.6°F (April 23) for a spread of 57.3°F. Precipitation for April was 1.08 inches, with the heaviest rainfall on the 26th. Mean precipitation for April is 0.82 inches, putting us about 0.2 inches above. We’re seeing a grand entrance of spring weather in May. Fanciful flowers blooming and busy birds nesting. May does bring some warm temperatures. Back in 1986 we h... Full story
April should usher in a respectable climb of warming temperatures. There is a nine-degree difference in mean temperatures from March (41.1°F) into April (50.1°F). Mean precipitation is the same at 0.82 inches. The record differences are separated by nearly a half inch (March’s 2.64 inches vs. April’s 2.19 inches ). We could see some white stuff in April. In 1955 we had an inch of snowfall. Have you switched your winter tires yet? Well, how about that, March 2012 tied our all-time wettest March... Full story
Generally we see a nice change in weather conditions as we watch March progress. Still, I would recommend being ready for winter-like conditions. In 1951 we had 9.8 inches of snow. Mean precipitation for March is 0.82 inches. In 1983, we recorded 2.64 inches of precipitation. It can be a wet month. Temperatures can be all over the face of the thermometer. In 1939 we had a high of 74 degrees and in 1955 a low of zero degrees. The mean temperature for March is 41.1 degrees — it bodes well for a s... Full story
Finally, we got some respectable snowfall in January. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. The freezing rain on the other hand, is another matter. Here at the home weather station we had a total of 9.9 inches of snow with a total of 1.10 inch of precipitation. Looking back at the last few years this is it how we measured up: 2010 - 0.9 inch of snow and 1.33 inches of precipitation, 2009 - 10.0 inches of snow with 0.84 inches of precipitation. The mean amounts for January are: snowfall 6.2... Full story
December left only 1.3 inches of new snow here at the home weather station; a real disappointment. December 2010 we had 7.8 inches of snow (2009: 2.6 and 2008: 21.1). Temperatures were mild as well. Our lowest temperature was on Dec. 8 at 16.4F. The month couldn’t even muster up a single-digit reading for us. La Niña is in place but not much has happened. Generally, during a La Niña year, we see wetter and cooler weather. Much of this drier weather is due to the ridge of high pressure that is ch... Full story
