A strong cold front swept through Eastern Oregon and Southwest Idaho August 25th bringing damaging winds and a wildfire in Southeast Boise that raced out of control destroying nearly a dozen homes including one fatality.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS BOI wrote it up.
A strong cold front swept through Eastern Oregon and Southwest Idaho August 25th bringing damaging winds and a wildfire in Southeast Boise that raced out of control destroying nearly a dozen homes including one fatality.
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 Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 25, 1:40 PM MST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID
240 PM MDT MON AUG 25 2008
.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...THE COLD FRONT THAT IS
NOW MOVING ACROSS WA/OREGON IS BECOMING MORE WELL DEFINED. IT WILL
CONTINUE TO DO SO AS IT MOVES INTO THE HOT TEMPERATURES OF SW
IDAHO THIS EVENING. LATEST NAM MODEL SHOWS A CORE OF 12MB
3-HOURLY PRESSURE RISES IN SW IDAHO BETWEEN 3 AND 6Z. EXPECT THE
FRONT TO REACH THE BOISE AREA ABOUT 8PM WITH GUSTY WINDS AND
BLOWING DUST...REACHING TWIN FALLS AROUND 10PM. THE FRONT LOOKS
DRY IN THE SOUTH WHILE THE NORTH HAS A MUCH BETTER CHANCE OF
SHOWERS. TEMPERATURES TONIGHT WILL BE TRICKY. THE STRONG COLD
ADVECTION WILL BE TEMPERED BY THE WINDS WHICH WILL NOT DROP ALL
THE WAY OFF BY MORNING ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST
AREA. UPPER HEIGHTS WILL START REBOUNDING WEDNESDAY FOR 8-10
DEGREES OF WARMING OVER TUESDAY.
.LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...MODELS REMAIN IN GOOD
AGREEMENT WITH NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT
AND THURSDAY AND THEN TRANSITIONING TO A SOUTHWEST FLOW BY FRIDAY
NIGHT AS THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST. MAIN DYNAMICS AND PRECIPITATION WILL REMAIN WELL NORTH OF
THE FORECAST AREA SO WILL KEEP THE TREND OF A DRY FORECAST THROUGH
THE END OF THE WEEK. WITH THE FLOW ALOFT CHANGING TO SOUTHWEST OVER
THE FORECAST AREA LATER IN THE WEEK WILL SEE TEMPERATURES
TEMPORARILY CLIMB BACK ABOVE NORMAL. THE GFS AND ECMWF CONTINUE TO
SHOW SOME MONSOONAL MOISTURE WORKING NORTHWARD AHEAD OF NEXT PACIFIC
TROUGH SO WILL KEEP THE MENTION OF SMALL POPS FOR THE WEEKEND.
MODELS HAVE CONTINUED THE TREND OF A SLIGHT TIMING DIFFERENCES WITH
THE NEXT PACIFIC TROUGH FOR THE WEEKEND SO WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES
TO THE FORECAST AND WILL KEEP NEAR CLIMO POPS AND TEMPERATURES NEAR
NORMAL.
&&
.AVIATION...MAINLY VFR CONDITIONS TONIGHT. AS OF 20Z A COLD FRONT
WAS MOVING INTO SOUTHEAST OREGON. THIS COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO
MOVE SOUTH AND EAST THROUGH OREGON UNTIL 03Z AND WILL MOVE OVER
SOUTHWEST IDAHO FROM 00Z TO 06Z. THIS COLD FRONT WILL GENERATE
NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 KNOTS WITH HIGHER GUSTS. AREAS OF
MVFR VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING DUST ARE POSSIBLE IN THE SNAKE RIVER
VALLEY WITH THE FRONT THIS EVENING. WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS NORTH
OF A KBNO/KONO/KSNT LINE.
&&
.BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 10 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR IDZ400-IDZ404-
IDZ408-IDZ418-IDZ419.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT MDT TONIGHT FOR
IDZ016-IDZ030.
WIND ADVISORY FROM 6 PM TO 10 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR IDZ014-
IDZ015.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 8 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR IDZ012.
OR...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 10 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR ORZ637.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 8 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR ORZ064.
&&
WEATHER.GOV/BOISE
SHORT TERM...JJ
LONG TERM....JA/LH
AVIATION.....JAHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 558 AM MDT MON AUG 25 2008 IDZ011-ORZ061-062-261215- WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-HARNEY COUNTY-BAKER COUNTY- 558 AM MDT MON AUG 25 2008 /458 AM PDT MON AUG 25 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL IDAHO...NORTHEAST OREGON AND SOUTHEAST OREGON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. IDZ012>016-028>030-ORZ063-064-261215- LOWER TREASURE VALLEY ID-BOISE MOUNTAINS-UPPER TREASURE VALLEY- SOUTHWEST HIGHLANDS-WESTERN MAGIC VALLEY-CAMAS PRAIRIE- OWYHEE MOUNTAINS-SOUTHERN TWIN FALLS COUNTY-MALHEUR COUNTY- LOWER TREASURE VALLEY OR- 558 AM MDT MON AUG 25 2008 /458 AM PDT MON AUG 25 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL IDAHO...SOUTHWEST IDAHO...WEST CENTRAL IDAHO AND SOUTHEAST OREGON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A VIGOROUS COLD FRONT WILL PASS THROUGH SOUTHEAST OREGON LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THROUGH SOUTHWEST IDAHO THIS EVENING. GUSTY WINDS UP TO 45 MPH WILL ACCOMPANY THE FRONT WITH BLOWING DUST POSSIBLE THROUGH UPPER AND LOWER TREASURE VALLEY. BE SURE TO SECURE LOOSE OUTDOOR ITEMS BEFORE THIS EVENT. A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON MDT TODAY TO 10 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES IN THE VALE BLM...BOISE BLM...AND TWIN FALLS BLM AS WELL AS THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE BOISE NATIONAL FOREST. FOR FURTHER DETAILS...REFER TO THE LATEST RED FLAG WARNING BULLETIN...BOIFWFBOI. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD REPORT ANY HAZARDOUS WEATHER CONDITIONS RELATING TO POTENTIAL FIRE STARTS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind, 1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Idaho Power released a statement that 43 separate events left 9500 customers without power as high winds toppled trees and power lines in the Treasure Valley. Dead Indian Ridge RAWS recorded a 62 MPH wind gust during the event.
Mountain Home ASOS reported a 58 mph wind gust and Boise Lucky Peak RAWS gusted to 60.
A wildfire in Southeast Boise caused by an electrical component near an Idaho Power sub station quickly burned out of control destroying 10 homes and damaging many more including 1 fatality. Another wildfire near Mountain Home burned around 500 acres.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire, Upper Treasure Valley | 2008-08-25 | 56 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2008
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: 126898, 126893, 126897.