Above 90-degree temperatures to turn into 15 mph wind gusts this week

A 20-day streak of temperatures above 90 degrees will end Thursday with a transition to high winds and fire warnings.

Cold fronts were expected to move in Wednesday evening and run through Thursday, said Joey Clevenger, National Weather Service meteorologist.

The weather service issued a Red Flag warning in effect from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday for much of southeastern Washington, from just north of Spokane through the Palouse to the Oregon border. West of Spokane, it includes Lincoln County and parts of Adams, Grant, Douglas and Okanogan counties. Sustained winds between 15 and 20 mph are expected, with gusts up to 30 mph.

Despite the high winds and the risk of wind-related fires, the Spokane Fire Department does not plan to increase staffing, said Spokane Fire Department spokesperson Justin de Ruyter.

The forecast wind is concerning because historically more fires break out when fuels are dried out, he said.

The only significant fire in Spokane County this year so far was a month and a half ago, but it was not wind-driven, and fuels such as grass and timber were not as dried out as they are now, de Ruyter said. The fire did not reach 100 acres, but if the fuels had been drier, it would have been more intense.

Avista does not have any expected power safety outages but is currently in fire safety mode, where the company can attempt to close circuits that might not close automatically, said Avista spokesperson David Vowels.

Thursday’s high in Spokane is expected to only be in the low-80s. The previous 20 days reached at least 90 degrees, the longest streak in Spokane of days reaching at least 90 since records began to be kept in the 1880s.