Braving The Heat Spokane Pools And Coeur D’Alene Beaches Fill Up Quickly As 90-Degree Temperatures Hit The Inland Northwest

Hundreds of hot, sticky Inland Northwest residents sought water as a sanctuary from temperatures that climbed past the 90-degree mark Tuesday.

Lake Coeur d’Alene’s City Beach was teeming with people, while city pools in Spokane quickly filled with swimmers fleeing the heat.

Joli Jensen, 13, and her friend, Gwen Massengale, 14, both of Cheney, spent the day at the South Hill’s Comstock Pool.

The pool was a perfect refuge from the heat because of Comstock Park’s shady trees, long hours of free swimming and the “ice cream man,” they said.

“My mom kind of gave us the idea,” Jensen said.

The high temperature Tuesday in Spokane was 92 degrees, 10 degrees below the record high.

Records aside, Tuesday’s high temperature was eight degrees above the normal high of 84 degrees.

The forecast for today and Thursday in Spokane calls for sunny skies and high temperatures of 93 and 92 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

The high temperatures in Coeur d’Alene are expected to be about five degrees cooler than in Spokane.

A lake-cooled breeze took the edge off the 90-degree heat at Coeur d’Alene’s City Beach, where adults lounged on colorful beach towels and children splashed along the shoreline.

Vendors did brisk business with snow cones, and languid lifeguards kept watch over the bustling summer scene.

“It’s a busy day for a Tuesday,” said lifeguard Jeremy Strand, who spent his break weaving a macrame and bead necklace on the seawall.

“Being that it’s hot, a lot of people figure they might as well come down here.”

Many of the beachgoers were from Spokane, others from much farther-flung locales.

Debbie Worthington and her family rarely enjoy such sizzling summer days at home - in Anchorage.

“If it gets to 80, it’s warm,” she said, her eyes shielded by sunglasses and a sun visor.

Four-year-old Quinn Worthington dug into the sand at her feet, forming it into a cone.

“This is a sand volcano,” he explained to his mother, bending over his creation, as if looking down the volcanic crater.

Then he tore off to join his snorkeling brother in the water.

“They love it,” Worthington said of her boys.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo