Wet weather approaches Inland NW

A Pacific storm system is moving closer to the Washington coast and is expected to bring rain starting tonight. For today, the forecast calls for one more day of mild conditions with mostly cloudy skies and south winds to about 11 mph. Highs should be in the lower 70s. Wet weather enters the region after 11 p.m. Forecasters said a low pressure area in the eastern Pacific has sufficient moisture to bring a soaking rain to most locations, possibly a quarter inch in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. That moisture is caught in a subtropical moving from south to north toward the center of low air pressure now centered about 200 miles west of Vancouver Island. Rain stays in the forecast on Tuesday and Wednesday. Cooler temperatures are expected with the storm. Highs will fall to the upper 50s or lower 60s and lows from about 50 tonight to the lower 40s later in the week. Temperatures should rebound later in the week, and there is a chance of another dry and mild weekend, although highs will probably be in the 60s, the National Weather Service said. Frost is not expected through the weekend, which will give the Spokane area a relatively long and late growing season. At 7 a.m., it was 54 at Spokane International Airport.