As if firefighters don’t have enough trouble trying to stop wildfires across the region, the National Weather Service warns of lightning storms and wind gusts this afternoon. A weak cold front is expected to move south out of Canada and cross into the mountainous tier of counties from the Cascades to Western Montana. Forecasters said thunderstorms would be confined mainly to the mountains, but some may drift south into the northern Columbia Basin. The fire weather watch issued by the weather service is for the northern section of Spokane County and portions of Okanogan County along with all of Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties. In Idaho, the watch is for Kootenai, Benewah, Shoshone, Bonner and Boundary counties/Mike Prager, SR. More here.