Rain, cooler temperatures forecasted after record-warm temperatures this week

Temperatures will start to dip next week after record-setting high temperatures this week.

A high of 76 degrees Thursday at the Spokane International Airport broke the 1921 record of 73 degrees, said Miranda Cote, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Spokane. Cote said the airport reached 75 degrees Friday, 2 degrees below the record of 77 set in 1940.

Weekend high temperatures will continue to be unseasonably warm, with a high near 70 Saturday before dropping to the low 60s Sunday. Cote said the normal high this time of year is about 55 degrees.

Cote said a cold front will move in Saturday night that is expected to bring rain and cooler temperatures. Rain is possible throughout the week.

A low pressure system will drop in from Canada Tuesday that could push temperatures down closer to normal or possibly slightly below normal Wednesday through Friday, Cote said.

She said inconsistent forecasting models make predicting the weather next week difficult. For example, some models show a low of 25 degrees Thursday morning and others show 45 that morning.

“The models out that far are very, very inconsistent, and they diverge quite a bit in what they think the low is actually going to do,” Cote said.

She said the models are not typically so inconsistent, but it can happen when seasons change and for long-range forecasts.

Meanwhile, snow is possible next week, with a higher chance of it falling in the mountains than the lowlands, like Spokane. If it does fall in the valleys, Cote said it would likely mix with rain and fall in the morning.

“But there’s a lot of uncertainty out there,” she said.