Suddenly, It’S Summer 80-Degree Weather Brings People Out To Garden, Play - And Even Do A Little Shopping

The hand-lettered signs read “Baseball cards. 25 cents a pack. 25 in a pack.”

And by midafternoon Sunday, young entrepreneurs and best friends Melani Cunningham and Brittney Ward had sold six packages.

That makes 150 cards sold, only 6,800 to go of their collection.

“I’d say we’re doing pretty good,” said Melani, peddling the cards from a stand along North Monroe.

Underneath their T-shirts, Melani and Brittney, both 11, sported bathing suits. A hose lay nearby.

“When it gets hot, we run through the sprinkler,” Brittney said.

Temperatures reached 82 degrees Sunday - the warmest day so far this year.

People across the Inland Northwest took advantage of the gloriously sunny weather to mow their lawns, fix their cars, walk their dogs and ride their bikes.

They played basketball. They flirted. They fished.

Ed Dodroe and his two grown sons, Steve and Don, spent the day on Badger Lake, fishing for rainbow trout.

Unloading the boat near Ed Dodroe’s Audubon Park home, Don Dodroe showed off the sunburn he’d earned on the lake.

“It was very nice,” Don Dodroe said, emphasis on the “very.”

“We caught our limit. Five each,” said Ed Dodroe.

A few blocks away, Steve Omans spun his son’s radio control car - a 4x4 Niko - through the gravel in front of his home.

“It’s the first time it’s been out all year,” Omans said.

And while many residents enjoyed sweating in the sun, others spent at least part of their day shopping.

The parking lot at Wal-Mart overflowed with cars. One employee on her way home after a nine-hour shift marveled at the number of people who chose spending money over soaking up rays.

“I’d much rather be doing yardwork or fishing,” said the woman. “But I have to pay the bills.”

Her consolation?

“I’m going home to have a water balloon fight with my son,” she said with a grin.

Those who didn’t get out to enjoy Sunday’s sun may regret that decision today. There’s a 20 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms, said Irv Haynes, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Temperatures are expected to stay in the 70s through Wednesday.