Warm day, cold water, good time

A group of more than a dozen rafters couldn’t have picked a better day to take a spring float trip on the Spokane River.

Temperatures cracked the 80-degee mark across the region for the first time since last Sept. 29.

“It’s always nice on the river,” said guide Brian Burns of Spokane.

But it’s spring, a season notorious for changeable weather. “It was snowing in Montana three days ago,” said Kristin Baunsgard, another guide on the trip.

Their customers gathered Tuesday morning at Riverside State Park for a wine and float trip offered by Pangaea Expeditions, www.leaveboringbehind.com, a western Montana-based company that works on the Spokane River early in the season.

Thirteen guests on two rafts drifted about two miles of lightly rolling river between the T.J. Meenach Bridge and the Bowl and Pitcher at Riverside State Park, then enjoyed wine and hors d’oeuvres afterward.

“Right now, it’s prime time,” company owner David Lawrence said of the Spokane River, which was flowing about 12,000 cubic feet per second on Tuesday with water temperatures in the 40s.

Tuesday’s high temperature at Spokane International Airport was 83 degrees, while downtown Spokane and Felts Field reached 85. Coeur d’Alene hit a high of 82 degrees, and Sandpoint hit 81.

A few 90s were reported in the region, including Walla Walla at 91 and Tri-Cities at 93.

A cold front off the Pacific Ocean was expected to bring cooler temperatures by this morning. Gusty winds were starting to blow across the region Tuesday evening, ushering in the change.

Highs today are expected to drop to about 70 in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene; the normal high for this time of year is 64 degrees. Highs should stay in the low- to mid-70s under partly cloudy skies through the weekend. Nighttime lows should stay well above freezing.