Chilly, soggy spring drawing to close

When summer arrives at 4:09 this afternoon, it will close the record on yet another cool, wet spring in the Inland Northwest.

But a taste of heat is in the forecast for the next few days.

Temperatures should rise to the middle 70s today and then to the middle 80s on Thursday in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

By Friday afternoon, it will be back to the pattern that’s repeated itself for months now – a short warm-up followed by rain and showers.

The chance of precipitation goes to 60 percent on Friday afternoon and then to 70 percent on Friday night through Saturday night, with thunderstorms possible throughout the period. The storm should clear out by Sunday.

Temperatures are expected to stay mild, however.

The trend for a wet and cool spring started early.

March set a monthly record in Spokane with 4.56 inches of precipitation that month.

March storms brought snow to the mountains and set the stage for spring flooding across the region.

June has seen double the normal rainfall, with 1.6 inches so far in Spokane.

Rainfall has been much heavier to the north, where June records are threatened.

Sandpoint has had 5.06 inches of rain this month, making it the third-wettest June on record with 10 days to go.

Boundary Dam on the Pend Oreille River in northeast Washington has had 5.26 inches, closing in on the record of 5.47 inches for June at the dam.

Kellogg has seen 4.65 inches, or fourth-highest on record for June there, and Bonners Ferry is at 3.75 inches of rain, making it the second-wettest June on record.

Colville’s total is at 3.41 inches this month.

The heavy rain and a lingering snowpack in upper elevations are keeping the region’s rivers full at a time of year when many of them would typically be dropping toward summer levels.

A cool, wet spring has been consistent for three years now.

The last month of spring in 2010 was the third-wettest and third-coldest on record with 4.24 inches of rain and an average temperature of 54 degrees.

Spring of 2011 was among the coldest on record.

This year, June temperatures in Spokane have been 3.7 degrees below normal and May was about a degree below normal. April was a degree above normal in Spokane.