Time to Cut

You’ve probably already mowed several acres today as our June rain event departs. I just wanted to give you a few details on the upcoming dry spell. But first, here’s a total rainfall map of the past 6 days. Impressive amounts in some areas (northeast Washington mountains) while other areas received only scant rainfall (Spokane and South). (The 3.99” measurement at Inchelium is likely erroneous).

Our temperatures will slowly climb, reaching near 90 by Monday and staying there for all of next week.  Meanwhile the dew point will gradually drop as we dry out.  As such, you might notice a slow decrease in the amount of morning dew through next week.

Afternoons should have a light breeze for the rest of the week, which should aid in drying hay.

The forecast does look dry for the next two weeks.  Not unusual for July.   However, the US model has been showing a possible thunderstorm event next week, around the 6th.  Here’s its forecast of the 24 hour probability of rain.

You can see an area in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington where the chance of rain is 50-70%, and this extends all the way north to Spokane.  What the model is suggesting is for thunderstorms to fire over northeast Oregon on Monday afternoon, and the move across southeast Washington overnight.  This is plausible scenario for summer.  But,

• It’s the only computer with this scenario
• If it does happen, the rain from it usually stays south and east of Spokane 
• The rainfall from these patterns is often (but not always) fairly light.

So at this point, I wouldn’t make any plans around it.  I’ll keep an eye on it and let you know if the other computer forecasts catch on to the same idea.  

Lastly, you might be thinking that this June was colder and wetter than normal.  Was it?  The charts below would say no.  Parts of northeast Washington were wetter than normal, and a small area south of Spokane was cooler than normal.  But overall, June was much drier and a little warmer than normal.