What is the weather like?

One of the nicest things about north Idaho is that we have four distinct seasons. Summer is wonderful with lots of sunshine and a usual daytime temperature about 85 degrees. While we are capable of the mid 90s and even higher, those extremes are short term and tempered by cool breezes and nightime temperatures in the mid 60s. Just as significant is the lack of high humidity. On the other hand, we don't have the dry aridity of the southwest, and that, coupled with our many lakes and rivers, makes being in north Idaho in the summer what for many people is like going to Hawaii during the winter.
Fall may be our prettiest season, starting in late September, with lots of color, with clear beautiful days and cloudless, starry nights.
Winters are cold, but we are certainly not Northern Minnesota. Though we are capable of some very cold temperatures, they are usually short term and tempered by our tendency toward rain rather than snow.

We had a record snowfall in 1992-3 of 142 inches, but our average is closer to 75 inches. Average rainfall is about 25 inches with December, January and February being the high months for rain. Occasionally winter can't make up its mind whether it likes rain or snow the most, and our'chinook' wind (snow-eater) frequently makes water out of 8 or 10 inches of snow in a matter of hours.