Wildfire, Blaine
- When
- August 11, 6:00 AM MST to August 12, 8:00 PM MST
- Where
- Blaine County, 2 mi S of Picabo
- Reported by
- GOVT OFFICIAL
- Coordinates
- 43.412, -113.980 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Idaho, August 11 to 12, 2003
1500 acre Foothills fire south of Picabo. Burned grass ans sagebrush.
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
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 PIH wrote it up.
1500 acre Foothills fire south of Picabo. Burned grass ans sagebrush. No property damage reported.
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 Pocatello, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 2:30 AM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 2:30 AM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
SOUTHEAST IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS ID 330 AM MDT MON AUG 11 2003 LATEST WATER VAPOR INDICATES VERY LITTLE OVERALL MOVEMENT IN LARGE SCALE WEATHER FEATURES. SOME MOISTURE STILL EVIDENT COMING AROUND UPPER RIDGE PRIMARILY INTO OUR UPPER HIGHLANDS AREA. MSAS STILL INDICATING POCKETS OF LOW AND MID 80S IN THE VALLEYS... AND THIS IS CONFIRMED BY ASOS. DID HAVE A FEW STROKES OF LIGHTNING EARLIER...BUT NO NEW ACTIVITY IN THE PAST HOUR AS CONVECTION CONTINUES TO DECREASE. LAST NIGHT SATELLITE DID INDICATE SOME POSSIBLE NEW FIRES NEAR PICABO AND POINTS IN LEMHI COUNTY. POCATELLO HIT 100 YESTERDAY...AND NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ESPECIALLY IN AREA VALLEYS LOOKS GOOD FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. IN THE SHORT TERM...NO MAJOR PROBLEMS NOTED. WILL KEEP NEAR RECORD HIGH WORDING IN ZONES FOR TODAY. SHOULD STILL HAVE ENOUGH AFTERNOON INSTABILITY TO KICK UP ANOTHER ROUND OF MAINLY DRY THUNDERSTORMS IN THE UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS. LATEST AVN NOW TAKES MOST OF THE ENERGY WITH THE ADVERTISED UPPER TROUGH FURTHER NORTH...ACROSS THE IDAHO PANHANDLE. A WEAK SURFACE FRONT LOOKS AS IF IT WILL WASH OUT ACROSS CENTRAL IDAHO ON FRIDAY WITH A 591 HEIGHT OVER SOUTHERN IDAHO...FIND IT HARD TO LOWER TEMPERATURES MUCH. DID LOWER FRIDAY HIGHS FROM UPPER 90S IN THE VALLEYS TO LOWER AND MID 90S. OTHER THAN ABOVE...MADE NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO MID AND LONG TERM FORECAST. BY LATE WEEK INTO NEXT WEEKEND...THE ECMWF IS SHOWING A RETURN OF BROAD CYCLONIC FLOW ACROSS THE GULF OF ALASKA AND A RETURN OF UPPER RIDGING ACROSS THE NORTHWEST...THOUGH A LITTLE FLATTER. KSFX...OPERATIONAL...VCP 21. .PIH...NONE. MEYER
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 11, 5:15 AM MST, 45 minutes before
IDZ017>023-031-032-121130- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS ID 615 AM MDT MON AUG 11 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN IDAHO .DAY ONE... RED FLAG WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 405/406 FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. THE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITIES. ISOLATED DRY THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO A POSSIBILITY BUT NOT THE PRIMARY REASON FOR THE ISSUANCE OF THE RED FLAG WARNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME...HOWEVER...HOT DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL ONCE AGAIN DEVELOP PRIMARILY OVER THE CENTRAL IDAHO MOUNTAINS...CARIBOU AND UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS. THERE IS ALSO A POSSIBILITY THAT STRONG WINDS ALOFT MAY MIX DOWN. ADDITIONAL RED FLAG WARNINGS MAY NEED TO BE NECESSARY LATER THIS WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS...ALL WEATHER REPORTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED AND IMPORTANT...EVEN OBSERVED WEATHER THAT DOES NOT REACH SEVERE CRITERIA. TRAINED SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WIND AND WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THE LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN POCATELLO USING THE 1-800 SEVERE WEATHER HOTLINE... OR OTHER STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. MEYER
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Texas, August 11, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, August 11, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, August 11, 2003
- Flash Flood in New York, August 11 to 12, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Texas, August 11, 2003
- Flash Flooding in New York, August 11 to 12, 2003
- Flash Flood in Massachusetts, August 11, 2003
- Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in Kentucky, August 11, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, August 11, 2003
- Flash Flood in Kentucky, August 11, 2003
- Flash Flooding in West Virginia, August 11, 2003
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Illinois, August 11, 2003
More
Every storm in Idaho in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2003
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: 5374851.