September 1 – Showers, hail and thunderstorms could be headed your way on Labor Day as meteorologists forecast a late summer storm in the region.
A slight chance of thunderstorms is expected Monday and early Tuesday morning in the area from the Central Cascades to the Idaho Panhandle, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasts call for a 20% chance of storms over the Central Cascades, Columbia Basin and southeastern Washington early Monday morning. The chance of storms will increase to as much as 30% over the Idaho Panhandle and southeastern Washington later in the afternoon and evening as the system moves eastward.
Over Spokane, there is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11 a.m. Monday, with calm winds and increasing clouds in the afternoon; temperatures are expected to reach a high of 93 degrees. The service is predicting overnight storm activity before 8 p.m. and after 11 p.m. Conditions will otherwise be cloudy and windy, with a low of around 58 degrees Monday night, the service predicts.
“It’s an upper-level disturbance that will push in from northern California and Oregon Monday and Monday night,” said Greg Koch, the agency’s meteorologist.
Storms include the possibility of showers, hail, gusty winds, thunder and isolated lightning strikes that could spark new wildfires. No strong wind gusts are forecast in affected areas after the storm, Koch said.
“Fortunately, this upper-level disturbance won’t produce many gusty winds Tuesday through Wednesday,” Koch said. “Some of our most significant fire episodes are dry lightning followed by strong winds.”
Temperatures are forecast to reach as high as 86 degrees on Tuesday and are expected to soar to 90 degrees on Wednesday, 93 degrees on Thursday, 95 degrees on Friday, 94 degrees on Saturday and 93 degrees on Sunday. The forecasts are well above the 30-year average of about 78 degrees on those days.
Elena Perry’s work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community through the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story may be republished for free by other organizations under a Creative Commons license. For more information, please contact our newspaper’s editor-in-chief.
