Sunny weather today, showers Saturday

Another day of warm September weather is forecast for today, but a Pacific cold front is going to cool the region for Saturday and Sunday. Forecasters are calling for highs today of 84 in downtown Spokane, 83 in Spokane Valley and 85 in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene under sunny skies and light winds. Lows in the 50s tonight will be followed by a weather change on Saturday. A trough of low pressure over the Gulf of Alaska is expected to push a cold front across the region during the day, creating a 40 percent chance of showers after 11 a.m. and the risk of gusty winds. The cold front should move eastward quickly, bringing a cool northwesterly flow and sun for Sunday. Highs both Saturday and Sunday should be in the lower 70s. Summer-like weather returns next week as a strong high pressure system establishes itself along the western U.S. Highs later next week could set records as the temperatures soar into the upper 80s to lower 90s on Wednesday through Friday. The normal high for this time of year is in the lower 70s for Spokane with the normal low in the middle 40s. So far this month, the combination of daytime highs and nighttime lows is running 4.6 degrees warmer than normal. Autumn begins on Tuesday at 2:18 p.m. At 7 a.m., temperatures were a cooler than earlier in the week with 50 degrees at Spokane International Airport and Coeur d’Alene, 48 at Felts Field, 51 at Pullman, 43 at Sandpoint and 39 at Deer Park.