Coming in hot
Kids enjoys the waters of Lake Coeur d'Alene at Sanders Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
BILL BULEY/Press
COEUR d'ALENE — When Lake Coeur d'Alene is about 46 degrees and kids are still swimming at Sanders Beach, that means it has to be hot.
Record hot.
Tuesday's 87 degrees broke a 92-year-old record of 84 degrees set for May 2 in 1931.
"We can't be normal," said Climatologist Cliff Harris.
The 81 on Saturday and 82 on Sunday both came within a degree of record highs. It was 77 Monday, the first day of May.
Coeur d'Alene saw its first 70-degree day of the year on Friday.
Harris said it's a major change from less than two weeks ago, when the highs were in the 40s and the lows were in the 20s.
But he expects conditions to get cooler and wetter. Rain is in the forecast for Thursday night, most of Friday and Saturday, and perhaps extending to Sunday.
Temperatures will drop back into the 50s starting Friday and continuing to Monday, Harris said.
"A pattern of unbelievable extremes," Harris said.