Enjoy two, maybe three more days of summer

Summer-like conditions return to the Inland Northwest for a few days before a new low pressure system arrives with gusty winds on Saturday. By Sunday and Monday, the weather will be more long pants and rain jackets and less shorts and flip-flops. Until then, enjoy the closing days of summer. Highs under sunny skies today should reach the upper 70s and then the middle and upper 80s on Friday with mostly sunny skies. A system of higher air pressure is moving ashore today, but it will continue moving across the region as a Gulf of Alaska low starts pushing against it as the weekend arrives. Saturday should remain relatively warm with a high of 78 in the forecast, but winds caused by the low and an associated cold front will pick up on Saturday, according to National Weather Service forecasters in Spokane. Gusts by afternoon may reach 29 mph in Spokane with sustained winds of 18 to 21 mph. Blowing dust is not expected, in part because rainfall on Tuesday has damped the ground sufficiently to hold down the grit, forecasters said. Earlier this week, forecasters thought the weekend low would be relatively dry, but today they have increased the risk of showers to 40 percent on Sunday and Sunday night in Spokane and to 50 percent in mountain areas of North Idaho. Showers should ease off on Monday. Highs both days will be in the 60s across the region. Lows in Spokane will go from the lower 50s to the 40s. At 7 a.m., it was 47 at two locations in Spokane, 45 in Coeur d’Alene, 44 in Deer park and 51 in Pullman.