Heavy Rain in Washington, June 26 to 27, 2001

Name: Heavy Rain in Washington, June 26 to 27, 2001
Start: 2001-06-26T18:00
End: 2001-06-27T18:00
Location: Washington

June 26 to 27, 2001 · NWS OTX · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: $21 million
Events: 4

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.

An unusual dry-season wetting rainfall in this arid region caused extensive damage to the cherry crop and lesser damage to the apple and pear crops. Much of the problem stemmed from the fact that spotty rainfall persisted for a nearly 24-hour period, causing fruit crops with porous skins to stay wet for an extensive period of time. The Wenatchee Airport (Pangborn Field) reported a 24-hour rainfall total of 0.53". Around 40 percent of the cherry crop was lost in what was expected to be a record year. The four counties included in this heavy rain report were all declared agricultural disaster areas by the governor of Washington. In Grant County, the heaviest crop losses were limited to an estimated 4,000 acres of fruit crops near Mattawa. For more information on crop losses in Adams County, see the June 27 Hail entry for that county.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 26, 1:30 PM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 26, 1:30 PM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WASHINGTON
230 PM PDT TUE JUN 26 2001

AS AN OFFSHORE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WORKS ITS WAY UP THE PACIFIC
COAST EASTERN WASHINGTON SHOULD REMAIN UNDER A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW.
THE 11 PM PDT TUESDAY NIGHT TO 5 AM PDT EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING TIME
FRAME IS WHEN THE PRECIPITATION STARTS TO INTRUDE INTO MOST OF THE
FORECAST AREA AS PER THE LATEST AVN RUN...HOWEVER 18Z ETA RUN IS
SLOWER MOVING THE PRECIPITATION INTO EXTREME EASTERN WASHINGTON AND
THE NORTHERN IDAHO PANHANDLE. HAVE COMPROMISED A BIT WITH THESE TWO
SOLUTIONS BY NOT GOING TOO HEAVY ON TONIGHTS POPS AND THEN GOING
CATAGORICAL FOR WEDNESDAY. AVN LAPSE RATES FROM 850-700MB STEEPEN A
BIT IN THE AFTERNOON HOURS WEDNESDAY SO INCLUDE CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORM WORDING FOR JUST ABOUT ALL AREAS FOR WEDNESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY NIGHT PERIODS. EVENTUALLY LOW LIFTS UP ENOUGH TO BRING A
RETURN TO THE MORE USUAL WESTERLY FLOW WHICH SHOULD SHUT OFF
PRECIPITATION TO MOST LOCATIONS THURSDAY WITH THE EXCEPTION OF
PORTIONS OF THE NORTHERN IDAHO PANHANDLE.

.EXTENDED...LONG RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THAT THE LONGWAVE
PATTERN WILL BE RETROGRESSIVE WITH THE DEEP TROF CURRENTLY OFF THE
COAST MOVING WEST OF 140W BY THE END OF THE WEEK. THIS WILL RESULT
IN A DRYING AND WARMING PATTERN FOR THE ENTIRE PAC NW. THE LATEST
RUNS OF THE MRF...EUROPEAN AND CANADIAN ARE NOW DEPICTING A DECENT
SHORTWAVE TROF MOVING THROUGH THE AREA FROM THE SW LATE SATURDAY AND
SUNDAY. ITS OFTEN HARD TO PINPOINT A SHORTWAVE THIS FAR INTO THE
FUTURE...HOWEVER THE ENSEMBLE 500 MB MEAN PLOTS DO SHOW A BIT MORE
MORE TROFFINESS OFF THE WA COAST THAN THE OPERATION MRF FROM LAST
NIGHT. ITS HARD TO ARGUE WITH ALL THESE MODELS SO WILL TAKE SUNDAY
OUT OF THE BROADBRUSH FORECAST AND MENTION A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS.  USING THE 12Z AVN RUN...THE BEST CHANCES WOULD OCCUR
OVER THE NORTHERN ZONES.  TEMPS SHOULD REACH OR EXCEED NORMAL VALUES
ONCE THIS WAVE PASSES THROUGH THE AREA.

...THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRODUCT CONCERNING WARNINGS AND FORECASTS
IS VALID ONLY AT THE TIME OF ISSUANCE. THE LATEST WARNING AND
FORECAST INFORMATION WILL BE FOUND IN THE APPROPRIATE PRODUCTS...

GEG 057/068/052/070 5+5-
CQV 050/069/045/073 4+5-
SPT 050/066/045/070 4+51
COE 055/067/050/070 5+5-
WWP 050/066/045/070 5+63
LWS 059/072/056/074 5+61
PU6W 053/066/050/068 5+50
EAT 059/071/058/075 8+30
MWH 058/072/056/077 6+40

.GEG...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Chelan

When: June 26, 6:00 PM PST to June 27, 6:00 PM PST
Where: Chelan County, Countywide
Crop damage: $10 million
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.869, -120.619 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Douglas

When: June 26, 6:00 PM PST to June 27, 6:00 PM PST
Where: Douglas County, Countywide
Crop damage: $10 million
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.736, -119.692 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Grant

When: June 26, 6:00 PM PST to June 27, 6:00 PM PST
Where: Grant County, Countywide
Crop damage: $500,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 47.206, -119.452 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Adams

When: June 26, 6:00 PM PST to June 27, 6:00 PM PST
Where: Adams County, Countywide
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 46.983, -118.560 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Crop damage for Adams County is incorporated with the severe hail report below.

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Washington in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, June 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5251209, 5251210, 5251211, 5251212.