Hot weather through the Fourth
High temperatures in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene fell short of the records for both cities on Tuesday, but forecasters said summerlike conditions will continue through the Fourth of July.
“For Spokane, it looks like it’s going to be very warm to hot,” said forecaster Robin Fox of the National Weather Service office in Spokane County.
A weak flow of cool marine air from the Pacific Ocean is expected to drop temperatures by several degrees today and Thursday before rebounding to near 90 degrees over the weekend and through the holiday. Highs today in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene were forecasted at 90 degrees and then in the mid-80s on Thursday.
Spokane saw a high on Tuesday of 94 degrees, which was 4 degrees shy of the 1925 record of 98, while Coeur d’Alene reported a high of 93, three degrees below the 2002 record of 95.
Grand Teton National Park, Wyo.
Idaho climber injured at Teton
Park rangers and a helicopter crew evacuated an injured Idaho climber Tuesday from a canyon in this park.
According to a Park Service statement, Natalie Pinecaud, 23, of Victor, Idaho, slipped while descending a snowfield in Garnet Canyon. She tumbled about 100 feet and seriously injured her leg.
Park employees working in the area reported the accident. Considering Pinecaud’s injuries, her location near the Spalding Falls switchbacks at about 9,600 feet, and an approaching thunderstorm, rangers decided to evacuate her by helicopter.
Two rangers were flown to the scene and provided Pinecaud with emergency medical care and stabilized her for evacuation. Later, four more rangers were flown in to help her and her climbing partner.
Pinecaud and a ranger were suspended below the helicopter on a rope system and flown to Lupine Meadows. Pinecaud was then transported by ambulance to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson for treatment.
A receptionist at the medical center said Tuesday night she could not discuss Pinecaud’s condition.
Billings
Yellowstone road reopens
Four small landslides Tuesday cut off visitor access to Yellowstone National Park from the tiny gateway town of Gardiner for over three hours, a park spokesman said.
Park staff closed the road between the north entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs Campground in Wyoming at 2:30 p.m. Crews used heavy equipment to clear the debris and reopened the road at 5:45 p.m., according to a news release from the park.
Park spokesman Al Nash said he was unaware of any injuries caused by the landslides.
The closure came on a day in which the park experienced a “heavy thunderstorm” and saw power briefly disrupted because of a small fire north of Yellowstone, he said.
The landslides occurred on the main canyon road between the southern section of the Gardiner River Canyon and the Montana/Wyoming state line.
The park’s other entrances remained open.
Shortly after noon Tuesday, smoke from a fire outside the park tripped power lines, including those that serve Yellowstone and the Gardiner area. That left some buildings in the park, including in the Mammoth area, without power and others operating with emergency generators, NorthWestern Energy spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch said.
Service was restored by 1:30 p.m., according to a news release from the park.
The fire was on national forest land and contained at about an acre, a spokeswoman for the Gallatin National Forest said.
From staff and wire reports