Thunderstorms possible over Inland NW

Scattered showers and a chance of thunderstorms will sweep across the Inland Northwest as a low pressure area drops southward out of British Columbia today. Forecasters late this morning dropped the risk of showers in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas from 40 to 20 percent his afternoon and and a 30 percent chance tonight. Thunderstorm chances are likely to be little bit higher in the mountainous areas of the region. High temperatures should remain in the upper 70s today with clouds and sun. The weather starts to warm up on Wednesday as the low pressure system migrates out of the area and signals the start of a new string of sunny weather, which should turn hot over the weekend. National Weather Service forecasters said they expect hot weather in the 90s to continue next week in what could become an extended streak of warm summer weather. “This could be an extended warm spell we’re looking at,” said Ron Miller, meteorologist at the weather service. So far this year, Spokane has had fairly normal summer temperatures. The average temperature at Spokane International Airport through Sunday was 69.7 degrees, which is only a tenth of a degree below normal for the season so far. However, the airport has seen only six days at 90 degrees or warmer compared with an average of 11 through Aug. 8. But several highs at the airport were 89 degrees, Miller said. At 7 a.m., it was 57 at the airport, 60 at Felts Field, 61 in Coeur d’Alene, 57 in Deer Park and 58 in Pullman.