With summer solstice approaching, warm weather settles in for the weekend.

The calendar is finally catching up with the warmer weather that started three weeks ago and shows no sign of letting up.

National Weather Service forecasters said more sunny skies and warm temperatures are expected through early next week.

At 9:39 a.m. on Sunday, the Earth reaches the summer solstice, the time when summer officially begins and the daylight period is at its longest in the Northern Hemisphere.

Highs should reach into the lower and middle 80s over much of the region today before a dry cold front swings through from the Pacific coast on Friday.

A low pressure area off the British Columbia coast is going to swing onshore and push the weak cold front over areas south of the Canadian border.

The front is likely to trigger a period of wind gusts of up to 25 mph on Friday afternoon and evening. That will raise fire danger across the region, forecasters said.

Highs on Friday will drop as much as seven degrees, going down to the middle to upper 70s.

A new area of higher air pressure moves back into the region over the weekend, allowing the summer warmth to return with highs reaching the lower 80s in many locations on Saturday and Sunday.

In general, North Idaho will be several degrees cooler than Spokane, and Sandpoint will see highs mainly in the 70s.

Higher elevations will be cooler with highs mainly in the 50s to about 60 and lows in the 40s. The middle mountain elevations will see milder temperatures with highs closer to the middle and upper 60s.

There is a chance of showers and thunderstorms on Friday in the mountains to the north of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

To the west, temperatures should be a bit warmer with highs in the 80s through the weekend at Lake Roosevelt and in the Columbia Basin.