Inland Northwest Hay Weather

  We’ve just finished a period of stormy, wet and cool weather. In typical spring fashion, we’ll now have some drier, warmer weather. But it doesn’t look like it will last too long. But before that, here’s a quick recap of the rainfall over the past 6 days. A very welcome rain. Today and Wednesday: afternoon showers, mainly in the Panhandle and extreme northeast Washington.  Highs 65-70.  Breezy afternoons. Thursday through Sunday: Dry and warmer, with an isolated shower near the BC border.  Highs in the 70s.  Gusty winds for the weekend. Monday thru Wednesday: a bit cooler with a chance of showers. After a few dry days, it does look like May might end on a wetter note.

The rain forecast for tomorrow (Wednesday) is still pretty much on track with the previous thinking.  Here’s the blended average forecast from the various computers. Around 0.1” in the Spokane area, and 0.25” in northeast Washington. But as pointed out in the previous blog, some computer forecast have double that amount of rainfall.  The main thing I wanted to point to is the wind potential. I previously mentioned that gusty winds would be possible tomorrow. It’s now looking more likely we’ll see some rather strong winds tomorrow. Unusual for a May storm.  Tonight: Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible, mainly after midnight.  Wednesday morning: rain with a few thunderstorms still possible. Strong winds will develop rather suddenly in the late morning hours. Gusts 40-50 mph are possible. We’ll probably reach our high temperature in the 60s by late morning.  Wednesday afternoon: strong winds continue, but more rain is also expected. Temperatures fallin...

The computers are remaining true to their word.  Our long dry spell will be ending on Wednesday, with the potential for a nice rainfall.  More showery chances of rain then continue through the weekend. First I’ll show you the average of all of the computer forecast rainfall for Wednesday. 0.1” around Spokane, with 0.25” north and east of the metro . Here’s a few of the individual computer forecasts.  The US GFS model gives around a half inch to parts of northeast Washington. . The UK is similar to the blend of models. The European AI forecast is a bit more generous with the rainfall.  And lastly the European model predicts over an inch for parts of Ferry and Stevens counties.  There could be some thunderstorms on Wednesday as well.  So everyone should get a little rain, but some folks could get more. Tuesday: Sunny and very warm.  Highs in the 80s. Wednesday: showers and thunderstorms.  Highs in the mid to upper 60s. Could be gusty in the afternoo...

We’re in the midst of a rather unusual long stretch of fair weather for this time of year. Highs in the 70s nearly every day. Lots of sunshine. No rain. But there are signs that the pattern will gradually change.  Here’s the weather map for this morning (Friday).  Warm high pressure over the western US. Eight days from now (Saturday the 16th), this is the predicted weather map. The warm ridge of high pressure is replaced by a cooler area of low pressure.  Before this happens, we’ll still have more fair, warm weather to contend with.  Saturday: Sunny in the morning, then increasing clouds. Highs in the 70s. Breezy afternoon.  Sunday: Mostly cloudy with clearing late in the day. Small chance of showers northeast Washington.  Highs in the 70s. Gusty afternoon wind.  Monday: Sunny.  Highs in the 70s.  Breezy afternoon.  Tuesday: Mostly sunny and very warm.  Highs 80-85. Wednesday and Thursday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. ...

If you’re like me, you’ve looked at the forecast on your phone, and the lack of snow on Mt Spokane, and you’ve decided to plant your garden. There’s almost zero danger of a freeze for the first half of May. Here’s the outlook for the 2nd week of May: Warm and dry in the Northwest.  We’ll probably see our first 80s of the season over the next few days.  Tri-Cities will probably reach 90F soon.  This will be about 1-2 weeks earlier than normal, but nothing that we haven’t seen before.  (In 1977 Spokane hit 80F on April 7th). There’s a slight chance of some afternoon showers over northeast Washington today (Saturday). Then, a s I wrote in the last blog, there will be a very small chance of rain around the 10th, but I wouldn’t make any plans around it.  There’s a little better chance of rain starting on the 15th.  The European and US climate models both hint at rainfall returning for the second half of the month, but with temperatures still above average. ...