Rain showers to douse spring warm up

Rain showers arriving over the Inland Northwest today have put an end to the weeklong string of mild spring weather, forecasters said. A large Pacific storm system moved onshore over western Oregon and Washington earlier today and made its way into Spokane about 1 p.m. National Weather Service forecasters said the wet weather will continue until about 11 p.m. A tenth to a quarter inch of rain is possible today and a similar amount could fall tonight. A second storm is due over the region on Friday evening. Even with the rain arriving, highs today should be a mild 64 in Spokane. Temperatures through the weekend will cool back to about 60 on Friday and the mid-50s on Saturday and Sunday. Lows will be in the middle 40s dropping to middle 30s over the weekend. The chance of showers continues into early next week, but temperatures will remain close to the seasonal normal of 56 for a high and 35 for a low. The current string of mild weather started at the end of last week and brought a high of 70 on Monday. It is the warmest string of early spring weather in at least six years.