Showers today follow Sunday’s rain

Two days of cool and showery weather are in store following Sunday afternoon’s rain storm that dropped .27 inches of rain, but a major warm up could push temperatures well into the 70s over the weekend. Modest warming from the sun at ground level today caused air to rise into a very cold air mass aloft, triggering condensation and showers - some with lightning, hail and snow pellets. “Clouds should start bubbling up here before too long,” Ron Miller, forecaster at the National Weather Service in Spokane, said this morning. Highs today in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene area topped out between 44 and 48 degrees. Another cool day is expected Tuesday, along with the chance of snow showers in the morning. Warmer weather should start Wednesday with highs in the upper 50s, then going to the 60s by Thursday and Friday and 70s over the weekend. The warm up is expected to peak on April 21 with temperatures running about 15 degrees above mid-April’s normal highs in the upper 50s. Highs probably will fall short of Spokane records. The record high for Sunday is 81 in 1908 and for Monday, 83 in 1942. Rising water levels in streams and creeks were expected, but waterways were expected to stay well below flood stages, forecasters said. Today’s forecast calle for a 60 percent chance of rain showers. After dark, the chance drops to 50 percent, but some of the showers could include snow. The snow level tonight is expected to be about 2,000 feet but the risk of any accumulations was considered low, said forecaster John Livingston. A low of 31 is forecast tonight as an upper level low pressure system settles over the region in the wake of Sunday’s frontal passages. Miller said it was not clear from forecast models whether measureable snow would fall in the Spokane area Tuesday morning. The 2008-2009 season earlier this month set a record for seasonal snowfall at 97.7 inches at Spokane International Airport. Temperatures at 7 a.m. today were in the middle to upper 30s across the region including 35 at Spokane International Airport, 39 in Coeur d’Alene, 37 in Sandpoint, 35 in Deer Park and 38 in Pullman.