Spokane sets daily rainfall record

Spokane International Airport reported a daily rainfall record of 0.57 inches on Tuesday, breaking a 132-year-old record for the date. The previous daily record for Oct. 28 was 0.53 inches in 1882. Most of the rainfall came after dark as a pulse of Pacific Ocean moisture from the southwest moved into the region along a frontal band that arrived earlier in the day. Ty Judd, forecaster for the National Weather Service, said the storm apparently tapped into remnants of Hurricane Ana. “It was a good moisture tap,” he said. Nearly a quarter inch of rain fell from 10 to 11 p.m. and another 0.14 inches fell from 11 p.m. to midnight. Across the Inland Northwest, rainfall amounts varied from about a tenth of an inch in the deep Columbia Basin to 0.70 inches in parts of North Idaho. Kootenai County measuring sites had up to 0.60 inches. Some of the Washington’s drought-affected wheat growing areas got a good shot of rain. Lind in Adams County had 0.28 inches. A succession of rain storms dating back to Oct. 14 is expected to continue, forecasters said. Another storm arrives on Thursday and Friday, although computer forecast models are not consistent about the timing of rainfall. Spokane’s October rainfall total of 1.42 inches is 0.41 inches above normal for the month and helps bring this year’s precipitation of 11.68 inches, which is just shy of normal for the year. The frost-free growing season in Spokane continues to linger. Spokane is not likely to see its first fall frost of the season for the next several days. That means that 2014 would be only the seventh year since records began in 1881 that frost held off until November. The average first frost in Spokane is Oct. 7. Daylight savings time ends Sunday morning.