An intense spring storm drenched the Inland Northwest early Tuesday morning, lighting up the sky and dropping needed rain.The National Weather Service had warned about the storm earlier on Monday.
“We’re looking for some rain showers and thunderstorms to develop across central and eastern Washington late this evening in the overnight time period. With these storms we’re expecting some brief heavy rainfall. But the biggest threat we’re looking at is for strong gusty winds and maybe even some small hail,” said NWS forecaster Charlotte Dewey.
The forecast calls for a big swath of eastern Washington from Lincoln and Adams counties east and the northern Idaho panhandle to receive between a quarter and a half inch or rain, the Palouse a bit less. The chance of rain is expected to continue into Tuesday evening, but the skies will clear overnight. Highs will be in the mid-to-upper 60s with gusty winds at times.
After this system passes, Dewey expects the weather to dry out again and temperatures to warm again from the mid-70s on Wednesday to near 90 by the weekend.
“All the signs are pointing to a warmer-than-normal summer and a below average precipitation period for the summertime. If you extrapolate that a little bit, it does play into an above average fire season,” she said.