Up Front: Another scorching summer in the books

Think back, Trib readers, before the last two weeks of pleasant, moderate weather and temperatures.

How hot was the summer of 2024?

As a reminder, here is my annual assessment: It was warmer in Lewiston-Clarkston than whatever is “normal.” It was the fifth hottest summer in history.

And for the prairies to the north and the south? It was warmer than usual, generally speaking, but as always you didn’t have the fun sport of tracking frequent triple digit days. Moscow did have some surprising days, however.

Lewiston-Clarkston, remember, had a torrid month of July. From July 7, a Sunday with 100 degrees, through a Sunday later, July 14, with 104, residents braced after eight consecutive days of triple digits. July 15 was at 99 degrees. Then, from July 16 to July 22, there was a streak of seven more triple digit days. That was 15 triples in 16 days.

If the Monday of July 15 had been one degree hotter (like, can you really tell the difference?), the consecutive triple digit days would have been 16. That would have been a modern-day record. Instead, the 11 consecutive triple digit days in 2021 — all in August — is tops. (The all time record? 27 consecutive triple digit days in 1938, 1939 and 1942, well before the weather bureau was moved to the higher elevation Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport in 1947.)

Remember our summer of 2024 for having 21 triple digit days, well above the average 12.2 in the last 23 years. This was more than the 13 in 2023 and the 18 in 2022, but fewer than the 24 in 2021 — the third most ever in the area’s recorded history. Do you fondly remember 2010, with only one?

The July streak and the almost-streak were the highlight of the Lewiston-Clarkston summer. The highest temp? It was 111, twice, on July 21 and Aug. 2.

So, what were the highlights of summer outside the valley? Let’s use Moscow-Pullman as the starting point, which would be similar to the Camas Prairie.

Moscow and Pullman didn’t escape triple digits, either. Pullman had a pair, the 101 on July 21 and 105 on Aug. 2. Oddly, Moscow had seven official triple digit days, five in July and two in August. Why is this odd? The two university towns are 9.3 miles apart.

For Moscow, the total of seven triples is a record high, and that is verified by Jeremy Wolf, meteorologist at Spokane’s regional federal weather bureau for 19 years (and summers).

Wolf calls it “strange” on another Palouse comparison, too. Pullman’s summer was only the 33rd warmest on record. Moscow’s summer, despite seven triple digit days, was only the 35th warmest on record. Granted, Wolf said, the differences were minute.

Lewiston’s summer had an average mean temperature — taking the day’s high and low temperatures — of 75.5 degrees. That pales in comparison to the 77.9 degree average mean temperature in 2021, the record.

It seemed to be a summer of June-July-August with little precipitation, didn’t it? It was, with a rain total of 1.17 inches. But it was only the 18th driest summer on record. Officially, Lewiston-Clarkston was on the edge of moderate to severe drought. Our agriculture community was not entirely happy but realizes it could have been worse, Wolf agrees.

It was nothing like the record low-moisture summer, which was .01 inches in 1883.

Wildfire smoke in the valley and on the prairies? Some days were uncomfortable, for sure. But, overall, as Wolf said, conditions were better than some years. Given the number of wildfires in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, generally with westerly wind, we were fortunate.

For the record, Lewiston-Clarkston had the following triple-digit days this summer:

June — None. The average over the last 23 summers is 1.2, but June has had only one set of triples in the last eight years. That was in the record hot summer of 2021, having a half-dozen, with the first on June 2.

July — Triple digits came fast and furious. By the end, 15 days of 100 degrees or more temperatures were recorded, the most in the last 23 years. The runner-up in this time period was six triple digits in 2009, 2015 and 2021. The 23-year average is 6.9.

August — It’s the month that many, mistakenly, think has the most triples. (July has the most.) Our summer had four during August, the first on Aug. 1 and the last on Aug. 17. It was an average August for triples, with the 23-year average at 3.9.

September — Heat wasn’t disappearing. Highs of 100 were recorded Sept. 1 and Sept. 7. On average over the last 23 years, we’ve had a triple digit in September only once every five years.

What do we have to whine about, really? Globally, the June through August summer was the hottest summer in the 175 years of records.

Finally, what — even too early to factually speculate — lies ahead in the winter of 2024-25 for skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers?

A LaNina climate pattern is expected to replace the El Nino, which has largely been responsible for a string of off-the-chart heat that has persisted within the world’s oceans and our planet’s surface for more than a year.

What does that mean? It’s good news for winter sports enthusiasts. Normal snowfall, at a minimum, is anticipated.

Alford is president of TPC Holdings, parent company of the Tribune. He may be contacted at alajr@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2250.