Last two days of winter to stay sunny

A northwest flow in the upper atmosphere combined with a high pressure system to the west is putting the Inland Northwest under another in a continuing series of sunny days today. Temperatures will be near 50 today and Friday in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene with lows both nights in the middle 20s. Light winds are expected. The nicest weather in the current period should arrive on Saturday with continuing sunshine and highs in the upper 50s. Then, a stream of clouds off the Pacific Ocean should begin to cross the region Saturday night through Sunday night, although Sunday should be a pretty nice with partly sunny skies and a high of 55. Spring begins at 10:32 a.m. on Saturday. Days and nights are now virtually the same length with sunset today at 7 p.m. and sunrise Friday at 6:55 a.m. Spokane is closing out the winter with 13.7 inches of snow, which is the third lowest amount on record in the city and the lowest amount recorded since weather record keeping moved to Spokane International Airport in 1947. Snow can occur until early May, although the chances diminish once spring arrives. The high at the airport on Wednesday was 51, down considerably from the spring-like 64 recorded on Tuesday, and closer to normal for this time of year. At 7 a.m., it was 28 in downtown Spokane, 23 in Coeur d’Alene and 20 in Pullman.