Clouds today; rain likely on Saturday

This week’s dry, sunny weather is breaking down today with clouds overtaking the Inland Northwest and bringing increasing chances of rain tonight and Saturday. Today’s high should reach the middle 40s as the influence of the incoming Pacific storm begins to be felt with milder temperatures across the region. Lows tonight will be considerably milder as well and may remain in the middle 30s in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. The chance of rain tonight is 30 percent in both cities. Rain chances increase on Saturday after 10 a.m., to 60 percent in Spokane and 70 percent in Coeur d’Alene, with highs in the middle 40s again. Areas of far Northeast Washington and North Idaho could see light amounts of snow initially from the arriving storm. Snow is also expected in the mountains this weekend with up to 5 to 6 inches possible. Winds accompanying the Saturday storm could gust to near 30 mph in the urban areas. The storm eases on Sunday, but there remains a chance of rain each day at least through Wednesday, with highs mostly in the middle 40s and lows in the middle 30s. At 7 a.m., it was 28 degrees at Spokane International Airport and in Coeur d’Alene, 29 at Felts Field, 23 in Deer Park and 32 in Pullman.