Brace for thunder, Inland Northwest. Temperate Memorial Day weather ends with storms Tuesday

Mild weather forecast for Memorial Day may end there, with skies taking a stormy turn on Tuesday across the region, according to the National Weather Service.

Monday’s holiday likely will be much drier and sunnier than Tuesday, as the service forecasts a sunny, lightly windy day and a high of 77 degrees on Memorial Day in Spokane. Coeur d’Alene can expect the same sun and wind but at a high of around 73 degrees.

With thunderstorms nigh Tuesday, more severe weather is forecast in the Idaho Panhandle; in Eastern Washington, storms are possible east of Ritzville. The first round of brief showers will drizzle over the region between 12:01 and 7 a.m. Tuesday.

“The better chance for the isolated, severe storms is over North Idaho, but there are possibilities over Spokane as well,” said meteorologist Jeremy Wolf.

The region could see a second, likely stronger, round of stormy weather between 1 and 8 p.m. Tuesday. The weather service forecasts strong to severe storms with heavy downpours, hail, lightning and gusts of wind 35 to 60 mph, more likely over North Idaho. These strong winds could fall individual trees, the weather service warns.

The National Weather Service predicts a Tuesday high and low of 79 and 47 degrees in Spokane and 75 and 47 degrees in Coeur d’Alene.

Wolf said the turbulent weather is the result of a westbound cold front moving through the region on Tuesday, interacting with the warm temperatures during the day.

“Whenever we have fronts come through during the warmest part of the day, that’s when our atmosphere tends to be more favorable for heavy thunder and shower development,” Wolf said.

The cold front could linger throughout the week, dropping temperatures to as high as 67 on Wednesday and Thursday and trending upward for the rest of the week.