Cold and getting colder by Sunday

Cold, clear weather prevails across the Inland Northwest today, and forecasters said it will last until Friday when light snowfall could arrive in time for the weekend. Highs this week should remain in the 30s with lows at night in the 20s. Fog is not much of a threat across the region, forecasters said. The chance of snow is between 20 and 30 percent on Friday night through Saturday night as an upper level low pressure area moves southward along a dominating ridge of high air pressure along the West Coast. But the main weather concern is a drop in temperatures starting on Sunday when a surface high pressure area from Canada drops southward with even colder air than is currently covering the region. The exiting upper level low from Friday and Saturday will act as a magnet to draw the colder air southward. Highs on Sunday may only reach the middle 20s and then lows at night drop to the teens on Sunday and around 9 degrees on Monday. The high Monday may only be 20 degrees. A slight warming is expected Tuesday. The daytime highs could set records for daily low maximums, but the overnight lows are expected to be well above daily records for this time of year, which are mostly below zero, forecasters said. At 7 a.m., the temperature was 19 at Spokane International Airport and downtown, 21 in Coeur d’Alene, 18 in Deer Park and 22 in Pullman. The dewpoint in Spokane was 16 degrees, an indication of the dry air mass.