More clouds, showers arrive today

A reinforcing shot of cool Pacific air will keep clouds in the sky and temperatures below average through Friday. Highs are expected to be about 10 degrees below normal reaching only 73 under mostly cloudy skies. Forecasters this afternoon lowered the chance of showers to 40 percent for the rest of the day and 30 percent tonight in the Spokane area. The gray and potentially wet weather is coming from the arrival of a new low pressure system that moved from the Gulf of Alaska into southwest British Columbia as of early this morning. It was expected to carry a pair of moist impulses that would raise the shower risk, especially over the mountains of Northeast Washington and North Idaho. The cooling air mass today will also force winds of 10 to 18 mph with gusts to 25 mph. Showers and clouds begin to clear out by Friday morning, but the high goes only into the low 70s in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas in the wake of today’s Pacific system. Lows will be in the lower 50s. It is a repeat of a cool weather pattern that dates back several months now. But for heat lovers, there is some respite in store. Highs rebound to the 80s on Saturday through Monday with the warmest day of the stretch coming on Sunday with a forecasted high of 89 in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.