Blue skies bring out sun worshippers

Maurice and Annabelle Henry couldn’t resist the call of the sun.

They and their 3-month-old daughter, Isabella, went for a midday stroll in Spokane’s Riverfront Park on Friday as the temperature soared to 50 degrees by afternoon.

“We’re like, ‘Oh, it’s warm, we have to take advantage of it,’ ” said Annabelle Henry. “We had to take the little one out.”

Maurice Henry, an airman at Fairchild Air Force Base, added his assessment: “It’s finally warm.”

The Henrys had plenty of company. Runners were out in force. Less energetic park-goers lounged on sunny benches. The ducks along the river were getting a good feeding.

Throughout the Inland Northwest, crystal blue skies drew out the crowds. Strollers, shorts and shirt-sleeves reappeared after months of cold weather. Drivers had to share the road with two-wheeled transportation.

Just about every aircraft at Coeur d’Alene Airport was aloft on Friday as aviation enthusiasts took advantage of the visibility and relatively stable atmosphere. The airport temperature climbed to 48 degrees under a west wind of 14 mph.

“Everybody is flying. It’s like a beehive,” said Jay Burdeaux, owner of Northern Sky Air Center at the airport.

The duck pond at Spokane’s Manito Park drew scores of people as well. Waterfowl crowded into the sunny east end where they were greeted by handouts of food. The shady west end remained covered in thick ice, and a group of young people kicked hockey pucks back and forth.

Jessica Cebuhar, who moved to Spokane from Phoenix about a year ago, spent part of the afternoon on a blanket on a sunny knoll at Manito. “I had my own picnic,” she said.

Car owners took advantage of the dry day to wash off weeks of road grime. The line going into the Mister Car Wash at 1022 N. Division St. in Spokane extended out onto two adjacent streets.

The mild temperatures are expected to continue one more day. Cloudy skies in the morning should give way to a clearer afternoon. Forecasters are calling for highs today of 51 in Spokane and 49 in Coeur d’Alene under mostly cloudy skies. A chance of rain returns to the forecast Saturday night, and on Sunday, showers are likely.

Friday was the first day in three weeks without at least a trace of precipitation, and the day broke a spell of overcast skies punctuated with periods of dense fog.

Forecasters warned that the higher temperatures combined with rainfall at lower elevations could cause small streams to rise quickly in Latah, Shoshone, Nez Perce and Benewah counties of North Idaho.

Friday’s clearing arrived on the heels of a storm that whipped wind gusts into the 40-mph range Thursday. But the wind also scoured the Columbia Basin of the cool, moist winter air that had been hanging around for weeks.

The storm, which began Wednesday night, brought several inches of snowfall to some towns to the north of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene on Thursday morning.

It also left a thick layer of new snow in mountains of the region. The 49 Degrees North ski area east of Chewelah reported 9 inches of new snow Friday morning. Schweitzer ski area near Sandpoint reported 9 inches in recent days.

Any thought that spring had arrived wasn’t evident at area tire shops. Only a few motorists were having their studded tires switched off their vehicles at Buck’s Tire and Automotive on the North Side.