Skies to dry out through holiday weekend

This morning is bringing a damp start to the holiday weekend, but forecasters are promising that things will be getting better each day. Highs may only get to the middle 60s today with a 70 percent chance of more showers, but weather conditions should dry out by Saturday and start warming through the middle of next week. The temperature should reach the lower 70s on Saturday; middle 70s on Sunday and upper 70s on Monday. A few clouds are possible on Saturday and Sunday in the Spokane area but sun is going to dominate. A low pressure system that is crossing the region today should move east of the area by tonight, allowing a new system of higher air pressure to build into the Inland Northwest. A 20 percent chance of showers will linger around the mountains of Northeast Washington and North Idaho on Saturday and Sunday as the result of the cool and moist conditions brought by the low. The warmest period of the year is expected after the holiday weekend. Highs go from the lower 80s on Tuesday to the lower 90s on Thursday. This morning, Spokane International Airport recorded 0.05 inches of rain from midnight to 3 a.m. The past several hours have seen trace amounts. At 7 a.m. today, it was 50 at the airport, 52 at Felts Field, 51 in Coeur d’Alene and 50 in Deer Park. The average high today in Spokane is 79. Sunset is at 8:51 p.m.