Spring is finally here and Summer is just around the corner, and with the onset of warm weather across the region Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service reminds us to keep our pets safe in the heat.

"Every summer, we respond to calls of animals being left in cars," says Nancy Hill, Director of SCRAPS. "Inside a car, the temperature will rapidly increase and can overwhelm a pet in a very short time period - sometimes with fatal consequences."

If you typically bring your dog or other pets along for the car ride consider leaving them home when temperatures rise. Dogs aren't able to sweat to cool themselves down so it doesn't take much for them to overheat. Cracking a window while you run into the store isn't enough to keep them healthy.

"The temperature outside doesn't have to be in the 90's or more for a problem to exist," says Hill, "On a 78 degree day, temperatures in a car parked in the shade can exceed 90 degrees, and hit a scorching 160 degree if parked in the sun."

There are several things to consider when Mother Nature dumps a half-foot of snow on the area.

PETA sent out several tips Monday for pet owners and animal-conscious citizens, because “dogs and other animals can suffer from frostbite and exposure, and they can become dehydrated when water sources freeze.”

Here are some of PETA's tips:

• Keep animals indoors. This is absolutely critical when it comes to puppies and kittens, elderly animals, small animals, and dogs with short hair, including pointers, beagles, pit bulls, Rottweilers, and Doberman pinschers. Short-haired animals will also benefit from a warm sweater or a coat on walks.

Baby, it's cold outside - talk about a chilly morning in Spokane and around the region! Spokane got down to just 7 degrees early this morning and Deer Park's temperature dropped to just 1 degree. Burr!!

Today we will see skies finally clear a bit, expect mostly sunny conditions in Spokane, clouds to the west of us and sun to the south and east. We will get up to 28 degrees in Spokane this afternoon and overnight temperatures will be in the mid-teens.

On Friday expect to see a high of 29 degrees. We also have a chance of seeing some light freezing drizzle and snow flurries Friday morning.

This weekend we'll see a bit of a "warm up" with temperatures finally expected to get into the 30's. We'll see a high of 30 on Saturday and 32 on Sunday. We also have a 30% chance of snow showers on Sunday as well.

A more active weather pattern is expected next week. A few weak storm systems could bring snow to the mountains and rain or snow to the valleys early next week. Temperatures will also do some more warming.