Stormy weather expected to hit Spokane region starting Tuesday

Parts of Eastern Washington are expected to experience stormy conditions in the coming week.

Southern Spokane County was expected to see some light rain starting around 8 pm Tuesday and continuing through the morning, with less than a hundredth of an inch expected to fall.

Thunderstorms are expected to hit Wednesday evening in southeastern Washington, including in Pullman and in the northern Cascades, close to the Canadian border. That could be an issue in wildfire-prone regions.

“With any lightning strikes, we’re concerned about potential fires,” Laurie Nisbet of the National Weather Service said.

The National Weather Service also warned drivers on Interstate 90 of visibility issues around Ritzville after gusts of up to 40 mph moved in Tuesday, with similar conditions reported in the Lewiston-Clarkston area.

Precipitation is expected to be lower than a tenth of an inch, but the storms won’t be accompanied by the wind that creates dangerous conditions for fires.

“These storms would be considered dry thunderstorms,” ​​Nisbet said. “But we won’t be issuing any red-flag warnings yet.”

Despite the cooler conditions through Saturday, temperatures are expected to rise after that.

“We could see temperatures next Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, in the upper 90s to lower 100s,” Nisbet said.

August is off to a hotter and third start than usual.

“So far, we’ve had below-average precipitation and above-average temperatures,” Nisbet said. “For the first two-thirds of August, it looks like it will be hot and dry.”