Summer heat returns this week

Summer makes a return this week as highs are expected to increase from about 80 degrees today to the lower and middle 90s by Wednesday and Thursday. Mostly sunny skies are expected today along with some high-elevation clouds with light west winds of about 6 mph in Spokane. The high in the downtown area should reach 82 today. Elsewhere, highs are forecasted at 80 for Spokane Valley, 79 for Post Falls and 79 for Coeur d’Alene. A strong ridge of higher air pressure over the eastern Pacific Ocean is expected to move onshore this week, and bring a return to above-normal temperatures on Tuesday through the weekend. Highs could top out in the middle to upper 90s on Thursday, and then subside on Friday in response to an area of lower air pressure that should move near the Pacific coast line by the weekend. The weekend, however, is expected to remain warm with highs in the middle to upper 80s and mostly sunny skies on Saturday and Sunday. Spokane’s high on Sunday was 73, which was 10 degrees below the normal high of 83 for the day. At 7 a.m. today, temperatures were mostly in the 50s with Spokane International Airport at 54, Coeur d’Alene at 55, Pullman at 57, Sandpoint at 50 and Liberty Lake at 51. Deer Park was one of the colder spots this morning at 48 degrees.