Name: Wildfire in Wyoming, September 1 to 8, 2002
Start: 2002-09-01T00:00
End: 2002-09-08T15:00
Location: Wyoming

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 RIW wrote it up.

The Commissary Ridge Wildfire was started by lightning. The fire burned 3,500 acres. Also, one summer home and one outbuilding were destroyed.

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 Riverton, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 1:36 PM MST, 10 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 1:36 PM MST, 10 hours 24 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RIVERTON WY
236 PM MDT SAT AUG 31 2002

SAT IMAGERY SHOWING TROF AXIS ABOUT TO PASS THROUGH NORTHWEST
WYOMING.  SHORT WAVE SOUTHWEST MONTANA PRODUCING A FEW SHOWERS AND
WEAK THUNDERSTORMS.  MOST LIGHTNING IN MONTANA...THOUGH SOME STRIKES
SHOWING UP IN NORTHEASTERN YELLOWSTONE PARK AND JUST RECENTLY IN
SHERIDAN COUNTY.  SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE FROM OFF BAJA STREAMING INTO
SOUTHERN WYOMING...THOUGH NOT MUCH LIGHTNING ACTIVITY YET.
TROF TO MOVE THROUGH THE STATE THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.  EXPECT
CONVECTION TO BE CONFINED TO THE NORTH...20 POPS.  LOOKING TO LEAVE
SWEETWATER COUNTY DRY THOUGH MAY PUT ISOLATED ISOLATED IN IF ANYTHING
TRIES TO POP BEFORE ZONE ISSUANCE.  DRY AND STABLE AIR MOVES IN
BEHIND THE TROF ON SUNDAY.  EXPECT TO SEE WARM TEMPS AGAIN UNDER A
MOSTLY SUNNY SKY.  ALSO EXPECT BREEZY CONDITIONS MANY AREAS WITH HIGH
TO THE SOUTHWEST AND LOW PRESSURE EAST OF THE AREA.  HIGH CLOUDS
RETURN LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AS TROF OFF THE PACIFIC TRAVERSES NORTH
OF WYOMING.  UPPER RIDGE BUILDS IN MONDAY WITH MID TO HIGH CLOUDS
FROM SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE BEING PUMPED UP.  TUESDAY LOOKS TO BE THE
WARMEST DAY WITH HIGHEST 7H TEMPS (UP TO 16C) AND HIGHEST 5H HEIGHTS
(588 DAM).  NEXT TROF BEGINS TO DESTABILIZE THINGS WEDNESDAY ACROSS
THE WEST SO HAVE PUT CHANCE TS THEN.  TROF DIGS FAIRLY DEEP INTO THE
WEST THROUGH THE REST OF WEEK AND PASSES NORTH OF WYOMING GAINING A
SLIGHT NEGATIVE TILT ON FRIDAY.  WILL CONTINUE CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH FRIDAY.  SOME GOOD COOLING BEHIND THIS TROF.
DRY AIR THEN IN FOR SATURDAY WITH WARMING.

.RIW...NONE.

TWB

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Lincoln

When: September 1, 12:00 AM MST to September 8, 3:00 PM MST
Where: Lincoln County, 20 mi N of Kemmerer
Reported by: PARK/FOREST SERVICE
Coordinates: 42.264, -110.656 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Wyoming in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Wyoming, September 2002

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: 5316474.