Inland Northwest Hay Weather

Fall fronts are usually lacking moisture around these parts. But just because there’s not much if any rain doesn’t mean there isn’t any weather.  The front will move through the area tonight (Saturday night). Some folks may get a sprinkle but not much more that that. Skies will clear by late morning as the wind picks up, which will peak in the late afternoon.  It’s worth noting that we don’t expect a repeat of the thunderstorms from Wednesday afternoon. Instead, very dry air will move in behind the front. This will lower the humidity, which combined with the wind will create critical fire weather conditions. The NWS has already issued a Red Flag Warning for most areas.  Please be careful on Sunday and don’t do anything that could potentially start a fire. Without the arrival of fall rains, our fuels are extremely dry right now.  Winds will gust in excess of 30 mph during the afternoon.  Some computer forecasts have winds gusting to 35 or even 40 mph.  Blowi...

With the seasonal change to Fall, it's a good opportunity to look back at the summer of 2024.  Would you say it was a hot one?  A dry one?  Just about normal? For those with short memories (like me), June of this year was just about as "normal" as you can get, both with temperature and moisture.  But then July rolled around with a very scorching stretch of days.  Spokane Airport reached a high of 90F or better for an impressive 20 consecutive days.  To put that in context, Spokane averages only 20 days of 90F weather for the entire summer.  So if I had asked you at the end of July what kind of summer we were having, you'd likely have answered that it was a hot one.  And it was a hot July across the western U.S.  Below shows the ranking for each state's average July temperature.  Red means it was the hottest on record (California, New Hampshire and Florida).  Orange indicates it was one of the 10% hottest summers for the West as well...

We’re just about done with our warm stretch of September weather. The much promised cooler air is starting to infiltrate the Inland NW.  And the thermometer will continue to drop for the next few days.  Here’s the temperature forecast for the next 10 days.  70s and even some 60s for the foreseeable future. What’s more is the forecast of rain. Pretty good odds for extreme eastern Washington and a done deal for north Idaho.   This won’t be a widespread wetting rain event for everyone.  Some folks may only get a few hundredths if that, while others may get a quarter of and inch.  Here’s an average forecast of all of the various computer forecasts.  Dry in the Columbia Basin but rather wet in western Montana.   But here’s the European computer forecast.  Similar pattern, but you can see more more holes of light rain with this forecast. The weather pattern dries out a bit (but not entirely) for Friday and Saturday. But then chances of rain increas...

September is starting off on a hot note.  We could be looking at several 90+F days over the next week, well above the normal 2 such days in an average September.  This is all compliments of a large area of hot high pressure along the West Coast as well as western Canada. The heat should peak on Saturday or Sunday, and then very slowly subside next week.  A very weak weather disturbance could lead to some mountain thunderstorms on Sunday.  But the main cooling will begin as the high pressure shifts to the east and a large area of lower pressure develops off the coast. This pattern will slowly shift eastward allowing progressively cooler air to infiltrate the Inland NW. Then this pattern will become rather stationary for the latter half of next week.  In other words, this isn't our typical fall front that brings us some wind and a little rain for a day.  Instead, this will set up a rather wet pattern for this time of year, with a chance of rain for multiple d...