Showers after sunny weekend

Among several changes at this year’s ArtFest, perhaps the most notable was that it didn’t rain Friday and isn’t supposed to rain for the duration of the weekend.

Today will be sunny with a high near 76 in Spokane. Sunday is expected to be mostly sunny, with a high near 80. However, the clouds will roll back in Sunday night, which will see a low around 53.

After a mostly sunny weekend, showers are expected to return Monday, as well as the possibility of thunderstorms after 11 a.m. and before 11 p.m. The high will remain in the upper 70s for Monday, but drop about 10 degrees over the course of the week.

“The main story is, we have weak high pressure, which keeps us warm for the weekend, but then we get low pressure for the workweek,” bringing with it showers and thunderstorms, said meteorologist Rocco Pelatti.

With the warmest weekend so far this year expected, many will flock to the region’s waterways. Playing in those waterways, which are very cold, very high and very swift due to snowmelt and heavy rainfall, may present some dangers.

According to the National Weather Service, river hazards include getting caught in debris, boats or rafts capsizing, and difficulty getting out of the river due to fast currents and high water levels.

Those who find themselves in the water face deadly hypothermia in a short amount of time, a weather service news release warns, as well as getting trapped underwater by debris and cold-water shock that can result in drowning.

Flood warnings continued Friday for the Okanogan River near Tonasket, the Pend Oreille River before Albeni Falls Dam, and the St. Joe River at St. Maries.

Melting snow in the mountains this weekend, combined with the threat of moderate rainfall early next week, will keep river levels swollen above flood stage for much of the week.