Weather: Weekend will bring mix of warm sunshine and windy, cool showers

Early spring is known for changeable weather, and that’s exactly what forecasters say is going to occur through early next week.

Patchy fog and clouds this morning are going to give way to mostly sunny skies by afternoon with a high of 61 expected in Spokane.

A strong area of high air pressure should move over the region starting this afternoon and turn Friday into one of the nicest days so far this year.

The National Weather Service said that record highs are possible in some locations Friday under mostly sunny skies.

Forecasters are calling for a high of 69 in Spokane, Pullman and Colville on Friday. The record high for the date is 72 degrees in Spokane.

Elsewhere, Coeur d’Alene is likely to get to 68 while Sandpoint reaches 65.

The stable high pressure isn’t going to last long. A cold front is forecast for overnight on Friday into Saturday morning and that should bring showers to areas outside of the Columbia Basin along with windy conditions early in the day on Saturday.

High air pressure rebuilds following the cold front, allowing for afternoon temperatures to reach the lower 60s both Saturday and Sunday with mostly sunny skies.

But the overnight low Saturday will be in the upper 30s due to the effects of the cold front earlier in the day.

Monday should continue the mild and sunny trend before showers arrive on another weather system Monday night into Tuesday.

In the mountains, the Natural Resources Conservation Service is reporting record low snowpacks at six measuring sites in North Idaho and Northeast Washington. Four other measuring sites have near record low snowpacks based on the water equivalent held in the snow.

One site in Northeast Washington known as Bunch Grass Meadow at 5,000 feet in elevation had about 13 inches of water in its snowpack with a snow depth of 35 inches. That is less than the record low of about 15 inches of water equivalent as of March 24, according to NRCS.