Weather for Easter to be mild, warmer

Spring breakers don’t despair.

Wednesday’s light snowfall and cool daytime temperatures are going bye-bye this afternoon.

A substantial warm-up is expected through Easter Sunday with highs reaching the low- to mid-70s on Saturday in Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and much of the region.

“We’re looking at a real mild pattern shaping up,” said Greg Koch, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Temperatures across much of central Oregon were bumping into the mid-60s to lower-70s on Wednesday, and that warm air is headed northward to Spokane through at least Sunday evening, Koch said.

Highs in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene should jump to 62 degrees today under decreasing clouds, and then rise to 67 on Friday with mostly sunny skies.

Saturday should bring the best weather of the holiday period with highs approaching 72 to 75 degrees across the region. Lewiston is forecast to hit 77 on Saturday.

Paradoxically, the leading edge of the incoming warm front on Wednesday was what triggered the light April snow flurries. Temperatures at ground level were in the upper 30s early Wednesday, but snow was able to fall through the above-freezing temperatures because of a mechanism known as “evaporative cooling,” which occurs when high clouds release snow into a dry lower atmosphere.

Highs Wednesday reached only 44 degrees in Spokane and 45 degrees in Coeur d’Alene. The normal high for early April is 54.

Two record lows were reported Wednesday morning. Mullan Pass dropped to 16 degrees, tying a 57-year-old record, while Chief Joseph Dam had a low of 23, breaking a 52-year-old record.

Ski areas are winding down their seasons this week. At 49 Degrees North, lifts are running free through Sunday in celebration of the end of the season. Skiers must stop by the ticket booth for a pass.

At Schweitzer ski resort, the last day of the season on Sunday will feature a Tropical Daze celebration and the last rides on the hill’s Chair One, the lift that opened Schweitzer in 1963, which is being replaced by a pair of high-speed lifts. Jack Fowler, a key figure in the development of Schweitzer, and Sam Wormington, the first general manager, will get the last rides up the hill, said Lisa Gerber, Schweitzer spokeswoman.