Weather sparks fire watch
Forecasters say system could bring thunderstorms
The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a fire weather watch, warning of possible thunderstorms across the northern portions of Eastern Washington this afternoon and Friday morning.
A high-pressure ridge along the Pacific coast is expected to buckle on its western flank, allowing an upper-level low-pressure area to form west of the region and move eastward, said forecaster Kerry Jones.
“While thunderstorms will be scattered in nature, abundant cloud-to-ground lightning is possible within the cores of these storms,” the fire weather watch said.
Thunderstorms could also produce heavy rain, forecasters said. The low-pressure system shifts into North Idaho later on Friday, but that area was not yet included in the fire weather watch.
The main threat will be in the Cascades, Okanogan Highlands and northeast Washington mountains to the north of the Waterville Plateau and Chewelah and Fruitland in Stevens County.
However, much of Eastern Washington, south to Pullman and Connell, is included in the watch.
Forecasted highs on Friday in Spokane are being lowered from the middle and upper 90s to about 92 degrees as a result of the upper low-pressure area, and slightly cooler than that in North Idaho.
Triple-digit heat is possible on Saturday and Sunday in the Spokane urban area, but other locations such as Post Falls, Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene may top out in the upper 90s to about 100 over the weekend, forecasters said. Monday is expected to be the hottest day so far this summer, with highs across the region hitting 100 degrees or hotter.
The Spokane airport saw 100-degree-plus weather six times in the past three years, with a maximum of 103 last year on Aug. 17.
The airport is 400 feet higher in elevation than downtown and often has highs a few degrees cooler than the main metropolitan area, meteorologists said.
Temperatures at or above 100 degrees have been recorded in just eight of the past 19 summers at the airport despite the three-year run of triple-digit heat.
The highest temperature recorded in 2004 and 2005 was 97 in each year.