Snow and wind in Post Falls (Meridian, Hayden: how much, house, living)

[Mcruud]

I lived in Meridian,ID in the 80’s and I liked the state a lot. I’ve been considering moving back and was thinking about Post Falls. I live in Bend OR now and the high and low temperatures seem to be similar. I was wondering about how much snow you get in an average year? Does it come and go through the winter or is it there from fall to spring? I’m not asking about extreme years, every place has those, just what’s normal. Also is it overcast for long periods? I grew up in Tacoma WA and I prefer sunny and freezing to cold and grey. There was a weather site I looked at that said it’s windy every day of the year to some degree. Is that true?
Thanks for any help.

[volosong]

What is "normal" these days? Things are changing.

This is my first NID winter, so take that with a 'grain of salt'. So far, this particular winter, the snow comes and goes. It snowed a few days ago, but the streets are clear now, and a few of them are actually dry, (the lanes with heavy traffic). There is still a good layer of snow where it has not been cleared, (e.g., people's yards). Maybe about five-six inches max right now where I live. More or less depending on where you are.

I was warned about the consistent overcast, and so far, this has held. Every few days or so, a very small patch of blue sky will peak out between the clouds, but for the most part, it is a pretty heavy overcast. I like sun too, but have never had an issue with cloudiness or the persistence of it.

Personally, I haven't found the wind to be too "bad". Some complain about it, mostly because it causes the cold to 'bite through you'. It hasn't really bothered me yet. But keep in mind that for personal historic reasons, I tend to welcome a stiff breeze and only mind it when I have to cycle into it.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I can tell you this difference about snow between Bend and idaho. In idaho, the plows will be out immediately and they do surface streets as well as doing the highway. I've seen them go by my house three times in one day on a day when the snow is really coming down, and then they come by when it has stopped snowing to push the last of it off the road.

If you've lived in Bend long, you'll be amazed.

As to the amount of snow, I haven't been here long enough to say, but look at the types of trees. It's not nearly as dry as Bend. A better comparison would be to La Pine. Then, the further north you go, the more snow there is.

[redwood66]

Originally Posted by Mcruud

I lived in Meridian,ID in the 80’s and I liked the state a lot. I’ve been considering moving back and was thinking about Post Falls. I live in Bend OR now and the high and low temperatures seem to be similar. I was wondering about how much snow you get in an average year? Does it come and go through the winter or is it there from fall to spring? I’m not asking about extreme years, every place has those, just what’s normal. Also is it overcast for long periods? I grew up in Tacoma WA and I prefer sunny and freezing to cold and grey. There was a weather site I looked at that said it’s windy every day of the year to some degree. Is that true?
Thanks for any help.

I have lived on the PF prairie for 13 years now and look forward to the just breezy days as opposed to the windy ones. I hate wind and it the one thing that I dislike about where we live. Snow is different year to year but the wind will cause it to pile up in inconvenient places like your south and west facing doorways. We have 5 acres with few trees. I have to say that the breeze is nice in the summer so the air is not stagnant and it does cool down overnight. This spring we are finally putting in air conditioning which I am looking forward to mostly to keep the dust down inside the house from having windows open in the summer. Yay!

[Cnynrat]

This is only our second winter here, and my observations are from Sagle, not Post Falls. Nevertheless, they may provide some color around Volo's observations from this winter.

I do keep a record of weather data - I am a Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network weather station (CoCoRahs).

We've had significantly more snow this year so far - 63" this year vs. 44" as of this date last year. Part of that is the result of a storm that dropped 12" in early November, but that snow was all gone a couple weeks later as we had warmish weather and over 4" of rain in the last 3 weeks of November. Note that 63" is approaching the average annual total, so that's quite a bit for mid-January, and unless the weather takes a dramatic turn we seem to be on track for a second big snow winter in a row.

Despite that, we have less snow on the ground as of this date than we did last year. Last year we had about 23" as of this time. My last measurement was Friday when I measured 19", and I'm sure it's less now since we had nearly a half inch of rain since then. I would guess when I measure tomorrow it will be about 15".

The biggest difference between last year and this year is we've had a lot more warm weather and rain, so while we've been getting above average amounts of snow it hasn't been staying around like it did last year. We've had quite a few storms roll through our area that were mixed rain/snow events, and we didn't see many of those last year until March. Last year the average low temp for the first couple weeks of Jan was 15 degrees, this year it's been 29. We've had about 2.3" of rain since Dec 1, which is more than I measured in all of Dec, Jan and Feb combined last winter. I think this corroborates Volo's observations that the snow has been "coming and going."

Many long time residents have told us there is no such thing as a typical winter in NID. I think the only thing you can count on is they will all be a little different. One or more mid-winter thaws are not at all unusual though.

Dave

[Shaner]

What Cnynrat said....

Wind is part of the prairie and every winter is a guessing game. Sun is here and there, it is grey more often than not in the winter. But the summers.... Love me some North Idaho summer.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Snowfall is pretty localized and varies considerably over a fairly short distance. It's common to see sunny skies and green grass in Spokane, while CDA is overcast with a foot on the ground. In general, Spokane<Post Falls<CDA<Sagle<anywhere in the mountains. I used to work in the Spokane Valley while living outside CDA, you could see the snow line working it's way down the mountains heading East.

Anecdotal, but I'd say PF gets 1/2-3/4 the snow of CDA, which gets 1/2 the snow of Sandpoint/the valley area around Sagle, which gets maybe 1/2 what I get up a little higher. But every storm is different. CDA gets more fog/overcast than PF or points north do (not sure how it compares to Sandpoint on any given day).

[volosong]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

...CDA gets more fog/overcast than PF or points north do (not sure how it compares to Sandpoint on any given day).

I've noticed that about the fog. Rathdrum, which is pretty much due north of PF is usually clear of fog. Just one morning this winter, so far, I think. However, driving across the prairie in the early morning I see quite often fog close to the eastern edge of the prairie. Doesn't last much longer than mid-morning and am pretty convinced that it is evaporation fog coming off Hayden Lake, Lake CdA, and the other smaller lakes in the area.

Shaping up to be a nice day today. Only partly/mostly cloudy with a high of 40. If the roads dry out, might be a good day for a ride. Rain tomorrow and Friday, snow over the weekend.

[oldafretired]

Originally Posted by Cnynrat

This is only our second winter here, and my observations are from Sagle, not Post Falls. Nevertheless, they may provide some color around Volo's observations from this winter.

I do keep a record of weather data - I am a Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network weather station (CoCoRahs).

We've had significantly more snow this year so far - 63" this year vs. 44" as of this date last year. Part of that is the result of a storm that dropped 12" in early November, but that snow was all gone a couple weeks later as we had warmish weather and over 4" of rain in the last 3 weeks of November. Note that 63" is approaching the average annual total, so that's quite a bit for mid-January, and unless the weather takes a dramatic turn we seem to be on track for a second big snow winter in a row.

Despite that, we have less snow on the ground as of this date than we did last year. Last year we had about 23" as of this time. My last measurement was Friday when I measured 19", and I'm sure it's less now since we had nearly a half inch of rain since then. I would guess when I measure tomorrow it will be about 15".

The biggest difference between last year and this year is we've had a lot more warm weather and rain, so while we've been getting above average amounts of snow it hasn't been staying around like it did last year. We've had quite a few storms roll through our area that were mixed rain/snow events, and we didn't see many of those last year until March. Last year the average low temp for the first couple weeks of Jan was 15 degrees, this year it's been 29. We've had about 2.3" of rain since Dec 1, which is more than I measured in all of Dec, Jan and Feb combined last winter. I think this corroborates Volo's observations that the snow has been "coming and going."

Many long time residents have told us there is no such thing as a typical winter in NID. I think the only thing you can count on is they will all be a little different. One or more mid-winter thaws are not at all unusual though.

Dave

Boy, that's surprising. I would have thought there was a lot more snow last winter. That early November snow seems like a long time ago. That wet snow a couple days ago with the rain adding to the weight of the snow made it a lot of work to get rid of.

You're right about the warm weather. The temperature in Spirit Lake didn't seem to have gone below 30* very often this month. The one problem with that for me is that my gravel driveway is starting to defrost making it harder to clear with a blade and blower. It's starting to snow again now and it's 35* so more wet snow tonight...........

[Cnynrat]

It is surprising. I keep wanting to say to myself, "Gee, this winter's weather is weird," but then I need to remind myself that it's only our second winter, so we don't have a lot of reference points.

As of this date last year we had 49" of snow, compared to 65" this year. This year we've had a little over 4" of rain since Dec 1, which compares to about 0.5" last year.

Location, and especially elevation makes a huge difference though. Yesterday Schweitzer announced they have had 4' of new snow in the past few days, but down here at ~2,100 feet we had an inch of rain in that same time period.

Dave