Cold front brought cooler weather, brief storms across Inland Northwest

A cold front moving northeast from central Washington to North Idaho brought thunderstorms to the region Monday morning and afternoon.

Wind, dry vegetation and the risk of lightning strikes led to red flag fire warnings in the Columbia Basin and Eastern Washington.

Storm advisories warned of high winds, hail and possible flooding.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, 34 lightning strikes had been reported in Spokane County, said Miranda Cote, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Spokane.

A brief downpour brought one -tenth of an inch of rain to Spokane International Airport.

The cold front plunged the high temperature 20 degrees from the day before.

Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far, though it did not quite breach 100 degrees, according to the weather service. The temperature was 97 degrees at Spokane International Airport and 99 degrees at Felts Field.

Lewiston, meanwhile, reached 103 degrees on Sunday.

The rest of the week is forecasted to be mostly dry and a little breezy, Cote said. High temperatures are expected in the mid-80s through Thursday, before rising back to the 90s toward the weekend.