100% Chance of Rainfall: Spokane and Inland NW will be covered in showers this weekend

It’s raining north-west inland, and this time there’s no chance Spokane will miss out.

The Spokane National Weather Service Office forecasts a 100% chance of rain for Spokane on Saturday and an 80% chance of rain on Sunday. Steven Van Horn, a forecaster at NWS Spokane, said an inch to three quarters of an inch of rain is expected to fall by the end of the weekend.

Van Horn said about 80% of this rain will fall early Saturday morning, with lighter rain being scattered over the remainder of the weekend.

The forecast signals the first autumn precipitation event of the year. Instead of the here and there storms of summer (many of which missed Spokane), this front will cover all of Washington and northern Idaho.

The Idaho Panhandle will get a little more rain, with NWS Spokane predicting about an inch of rain in most areas. In Washington, areas near the Cascades could grow up to 2 inches long.

Areas of burn scars from forest fires near the Cascades, such as the Methow Valley, are warned by NWS Spokane. Recently burned land can have a hard time absorbing rain, which can lead to flooding.

Regardless of whether precipitation on that front hits the upper or lower end of the expected rainfall, there will likely still be more rain than Spokane received throughout July and August combined, Van Horn said.

With Spokane barely missing a few showers this summer, rainproof will be welcome this weekend in a historically dry year.

The latest version of the US Drought Monitor still shows over 30% of eastern Washington under “exceptional drought,” the most extreme category.

The monitor showed a slight improvement from last week, about 6% fewer exceptional drought areas, but most of east Washington is still affected by exceptional drought.

Van Horn said NWS Spokane’s drought outlook predicts further improvement in the coming weeks, but it will likely take a full winter of above-average rain to fully get Spokane and east Washington out of this historic drought.