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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hallelujah, the temperature in Spokane is normal again. And it just hit 60 degrees.

The mild weather, with temperatures in the 50s, brought strollers in light jackets to Riverfront Park on Monday, March 18, 2019 in downtown Spokane. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

Spokane’s streak of colder-than-usual temperatures has finally ended.

On Monday, Spokane’s average temperature for the day was 42 degrees – 1 degree above normal.

For the 43 days prior, Spokane’s average temperature was below normal, according to the National Weather Service. On 32 of those days, the temperature was at least 10 degrees below normal. It was more than 20 degrees below normal six times.

At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the temperature reached 60 degrees at Spokane International Airport for the first time since Oct. 23. The weather service predicts temperatures will reach 60 or more on Wednesday and Thursday, said Robin Fox, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Spokane’s office.

While snow is melting at a good clip, cold temperatures at night are so far helping the Inland Northwest avoid flooding concerns, Fox said. No local rivers are currently forecast to flood.

During the streak of below-normal temperatures, the lowest occurred March 3 when the average temperature for the day was 13 degrees. That was 23 degrees below normal.

Also ended is the streak of days with at least 10 inches of snow on the ground. Monday was the 36th day in a row with at least that much snow on the ground at the Spokane International Airport, according to weather service data. That’s the eighth-longest on record.

But by Tuesday afternoon, only 6 inches were left.