More Rain Ahead

This May is now the rainiest month in more than a year, and forecasters say they see no end any time soon.

On the temporarily bright side, drier weather is expected for at least today.

“It will lead people to think things are looking up; then we’ll go downhill quickly on Friday,” said Paul Frisbie, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Spokane.

The sun should reappear Sunday and Monday, Frisbie said.

Persistent spring rains apparently are a progression of the El Nino pattern that struck California last winter, forecasters said. Low pressure has formed repeatedly along the West Coast this season, sending waves of moisture ashore.

The same upper-level low that triggered Tuesday’s storm is expected to reload with another shot as the weekend arrives.

That will continue the threat along small streams, but larger rivers should stay within their banks, forecasters said.

Mountainous terrain in northeast Washington and North Idaho was already well saturated when 2-3 more inches of rain fell Tuesday.

Cool temperatures accompanying the storm brought snow Wednesday to Coolin and Moyie Springs in Idaho. An area west of Ione in Pend Oreille County had 3 inches of snow.

Spokane tied a record Tuesday for the lowest maximum temperature of 49 degrees for the date.

More than 3 inches of rain have been recorded at Spokane International Airport since May 12.

Mays this wet are not that unusual. They occur on average once a decade, the last time was in 1990.

Spokane’s record for May is 5.71 inches in 1948, a month that brought some of the worst flooding in the Northwest this century.

The summer-like weather of earlier this spring may be a long time in returning. Extended computer forecasts show more spells of rain and showers, Frisbie said.