Spotty rain showers relieve parched Northwest

Rain Friday and Saturday provided much needed precipitation to the parched Inland Northwest. However, the amount and intensity of the rain varied greatly place to place.

The Spokane International Airport monitoring station recorded 0.12 inches of rain over a 24-hour period. The Felts Field monitoring station reported 0.34 inches.

“It was very spotty,” said Andrew Kalin, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “I know certain parts of town got a whole lot and others didn’t see any.”

Other local monitoring stations, both official and unofficial, showed the variable nature of the storms. Post Falls got 0.05 inches, while Coeur d’Alene got 0.28 inches. Areas just south of Spokane along U.S. Highway 395 reported as much as 0.73 inches. Pullman reported 0.32 inches.

Kalin said the spottiness of precipitation is because of a lack of storm movement. The localized storms, known as air-mass thunderstorms, dump rain on a particular spot but travel nowhere.

“Basically they bubbled up and rained themselves out,” Kalin said.

Spokane’s last reported rain was 0.01 inches on June 29, Kalin said. This week’s temperatures are expected to be lower and the relative humidity higher. That should reduce fire danger, Kalin said.

“Obviously the precipitation has been great,” he said. “And now this week we will be a little closer to seasonal temperature.”