FXUS66 KOTX 231150 AFDOTX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 450 AM PDT Sun Aug 23 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Lingering thunderstorms over Northeast WA and North ID through Sunday morning. - Breezy winds across the Basin on Sunday. && .SYNOPSIS... A weather system continues to impact the region through Sunday morning. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms producing gusty outflow winds, along with breezy winds and low relative humidity expected. Sunday will remain breezy and dry, but cooler. Temperatures will warm again at the start of next week with breezy conditions returning by the middle of next week. && .DISCUSSION... Today: The Low will be passing through the North Idaho into Alberta. There is still enough instability to generate showers and occasional isolated thunderstorm over Northeast WA and North Idaho through the morning. These areas have a round 10-30% probability of thunderstorms. The thunderstorm threat will diminish through the afternoon as the system continues eastward. The system will bring gusty winds across the Basin with gusts in the 20-30 mph range. Winds will be breezy through the day before declining by the evening. Highs will be cooler with a range of upper 70s to 80s expected. Monday through Saturday: A ridge will build into the region along the Continental Divide while a trough digs in off the coast. A similar pattern will be setting up from this past weekend. The ridge will be in place for a couple of days leading to dry, warm pattern. Highs will climb back into the 90s. Moderate HeatRisk will return for most lowland locations on Tuesday. The trough begin to push into the region on Wednesday and slowly track East through the end of the week. Ensembles have weak instability over the Cascades, northern mountains, and the Idaho Panhandle. Precipitable water amounts are 0.5-0.75 of an inch. These areas will likely have isolated showers with an occasional lightning strike. NBM has around a 10% probability of lightning. Winds will increase through the Okanogan Valley and Waterville Plateau with gusts in the 20-30 mph range. While it does not bring in a meaningful amount of rain, the trough will drop highs back into the 80s through the end of the week. /JDC && .AVIATION... 12Z TAFs: Showers over far NE WA into N Idaho will move out of the area this morning along with a few embedded thunderstorms. Another wave passing through in the afternoon will allow for scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to redevelop near the Canadian border. Otherwise a dry westerly flow is expected to promote VFR conditions for all TAF sites along with breezy west to southwest winds. These winds will quickly decrease between 1z-4z this evening as pressure gradients relax as high pressure begins to develop over the region. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Prevailing west to southwest winds today is expected to keep the bulf of the smoke from regional wildfires in British Columbia and east Slopes of the Cascades north of KEAT- KGEG- KSFF- KCOE through the afternoon. Depend on amount of smoke production from area wildfires as inversions develop tonight and winds shift to north-northwest could see some visibility restrictions at KEAT/KMWH but confidence is low in conditions dropping to below VFR. JW ----------------------- Confidence descriptors: Low - Less than a 30 percent chance Moderate - 30 to 70 percent chance High - Greater than a 70 percent chance For additional probabilistic information for NWS Spokane airports, please refer to the Aviation Dashboard on our webpage: https:/www.weather.gov/otx/avndashboard && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... Spokane 58 80 53 86 55 93 / 30 0 0 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 58 79 52 86 55 93 / 50 00 0 0 0 Pullman 50 76 45 86 49 93 / 30 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston 61 85 56 92 61 98 / 30 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 51 78 43 86 46 93 / 20 30 10 0 0 0 Sandpoint 55 76 46 82 50 90 / 50 10 0 0 0 0 Kellogg 54 76 51 84 54 91 / 50 10 0 0 0 0 Moses Lake 55 84 52 89 57 94 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 63 82 61 87 64 92 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 55 83 53 88 57 93 / 20 10 0 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...Red Flag Warning until 11 AM PDT Sunday for Selkirk Mountains of Northeast Washington (Zone 700). Air Quality Alert until further notice for Central Chelan County-Okanogan Highlands-Okanogan Valley-Upper Columbia Basin- Waterville Plateau-Wenatchee Area-Western Chelan County-Western Okanogan County. ID...Red Flag Warning until 11 AM PDT Sunday for Northern and Central Idaho Panhandle (Zone 101). && $$