Highs continue in the 40s through Friday

Daytime temperatures in the 40s should continue through the rest of the work week with a chance of rain showers tonight and Thursday. The high today should reach 46 with partly sunny skies and a light east wind. The mild flow of air from the south will also keep lows near or jus above the freezing mark at night. A cooling trend by this weekend will drop temperatures several degrees, and bring the chance of snow to lower elevations by Saturday. However, temperatures will still be several degrees above seasonal normals of 33 for highs and 22 for lows. Highs Saturday through Tuesday should be in the upper 30s to lower 40s, so any snow that falls will likely melt and not remain on roadways. A low of 26 Sunday night could set the stage for snow early on Monday when a new Pacific storm system is predicted to move into the Inland Northwest. For now, a series of weak storm impulses is expected to migrate northward off a larger storm system pointed toward southern California. A strengthening of the southern branch of the upper-level jet stream since last weekend has been pushing wet weather to the south, and a weak segment of that energy is turning northward along the western side of a high pressure system over the northern plains and Canadian prairies. At 7 a.m., it was 34 at Spokane International Airport, downtown Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, 35 in Deer Park and 37 in Pullman.