SPOKANE, Wash. — The Inland Northwest is set to experience strong thunderstorms on Thursday night as summer weather comes to an end.
Low pressure over California has remained stationary for the past couple of days, while a thermal ridge in the jet stream has angled northwesterly, resulting in temperatures in the 80s. However, the influence of the storm system to the south has been close enough to cause late-evening thunderstorms, most notably on Monday and Tuesday nights.
Now, the low-pressure center is expected to take over the Pacific Northwest's weather pattern, with temperatures swinging drastically and another round of intense thunderstorms likely to occur on Thursday evening.
Thunderstorms are expected to occur between 8 p.m. and midnight across the southern half of the Inland Northwest, with locations like Pullman and Lewiston having the greatest chance of experiencing them. After midnight, the energy in the atmosphere will be used up, but the rain bands will likely remain into Friday, making for a cooler and wetter day.
The expected intensity of the thunderstorms could create damaging winds and hail in the strongest one or two storms, leading the Storm Prediction Center to place a large portion of eastern Washington and central Idaho under a Marginal Risk for severe weather tonight.
The National Weather Service in Spokane has also issued Flood Watches for a handful of cities, including Pullman, Lewiston, Wallace, and Omak from Thursday night to 11 p.m. Friday. The risk for flash flooding is marginal but serious enough to warrant the alert. Both the downpouring rains of Thursday's thunderstorms and Friday's steady rainfall could combine to pose a flash flooding threat for these regions.
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