Flood, Benewah
- When
- June 1, 12:00 AM PST to June 9, 12:47 AM PST
- Where
- Benewah County, 0.32 mi NE of St Maries to 0.59 mi E of St Maries
- Cause
- Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
- Reported by
- Other Federal Agency
- Coordinates
- 47.323, -116.575
Unseasonably warm temperatures in late May led to significant mountain snow melt with flooding continuing on the St. Joe River at the start of June.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 OTX wrote it up.
Unseasonably warm temperatures in late May led to significant mountain snow melt with flooding continuing on the St. Joe River at the start of June. The St. Joe River at Saint Maries rose to the flood stage level of 32.5 feet at 10:15 AM PST on May 18th, crested at 36.94 feet at 2:45 PM PST on May 21st, and then fell to below flood stage on June 9th.
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 May 31, 9:50 PM PST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 1050 PM PDT SAT MAY 31 2008 ...UPDATED AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... AN UNSTABLE UPPER LEVEL LOW CURRENTLY JUST OFF THE WASHINGTON COAST WILL APPROACH THE INLAND NORTHWEST THROUGH THE WEEKEND. UNSTABLE CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW WILL CONTINUE TO RESULT IN CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS....ESPECIALLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS...WITH WIDESPREAD RAIN NORTH AND EAST OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN ON SUNDAY. && .DISCUSSION... REST OF TONIGHT...THE TIMING OF THE SHORT-WAVE TROF THAT HAS BEEN ADVERTISED TO MOVE INTO THE AREA FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS IS STILL ON TRACK AND WILL MOVE INTO ERN WA OVERNIGHT. SCATTERED TSRA MOVING N OFF THE HIGHER TRRN OF NE OREGON AND INTO THE LEWISTON AREA WAS THE FOCUS EARLY IN THE SHIFT...WITH THE MAIN THREATS BEING SMALL HAIL AND LOCAL FLOODING. THE SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVSY FOR GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES WAS ALLOWED TO END AT AROUND 8 PM. A SECONDARY BATCH OF TSRA SPREAD N INTO THE PALOUSE AND SPOKANE AREA...AND IS NOW WEAKENING RAPIDLY. WEVE BEEN COVERING THIS LATER PCPN WITH NOWCASTS...FOCUSING ON LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN-RATES AND PONDING OF WATER. THOUGH THE RADAR PCPN ESTIMATES HAVE BEEN IMPRESSIVE IN ISOLATED SPOTS...CALLS TO SPOTTERS AND COUNTY SHERIFFS HAVE YIELDED NO FLOODING PROBLEMS. AND EVEN THOUGH LG-SCALE ASCENT WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED SHORT-WAVE WILL PERSIST THE REST OF THE NIGHT...THE END OF AFTERNOON HEATING SHOULD SIGNIFICANTLY CUT BACK ON ANY THUNDER AND HEAVY RAIN THREAT THE REST OF THE NIGHT. THOUGH WELL KEEP FAIRLY HIGH POPS IN THE FCST FOR THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...WELL KEEP PCPN AMNTS LESS THAN ONE TENTH INCH FOR MOST LOWER ELEVATIONS. BZ && .AVIATION... SEVERAL AVIATION CONCERNS THROUGH 06Z/2ND. FIRST BEING THUNDERSTORMS OVER NE OREGON THAT WILL MOVE NE NEAR OR OVER KLWS/KPUW BTWN 06Z-010Z. THUNDER THREAT SHOULD SUBSIDE IN THESE AREAS OVERNIGHT...BUT THEN TSTMS ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP TOMORROW AFTERNOON. MEANWHILE A LARGE AREA OF RAIN WILL MOVE NORTH OUT OF NE OREGON INTO EASTERN WA/N IDAHO OVERNIGHT INTO TOMORROW MORNING WITH CIGS LOWERING TO MVFR WITH LOCAL IFR CIGS POSSIBLE. IFR CIGS ARE MOST LIKELY AT KGEG/KPUW WHERE LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE FLOW WILL EXIST. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SPOKANE 53 67 51 68 47 67 / 60 70 30 20 10 20 COEUR DALENE 54 65 52 68 46 65 / 60 80 30 20 10 20 PULLMAN 53 69 50 66 44 65 / 60 60 30 20 10 20 LEWISTON 55 74 55 74 50 72 / 60 40 20 20 10 20 COLVILLE 50 64 47 72 47 71 / 50 80 30 30 10 20 SANDPOINT 50 61 49 70 47 63 / 50 80 30 40 10 20 KELLOGG 50 59 47 66 45 65 / 60 80 40 30 10 20 MOSES LAKE 53 78 54 74 50 73 / 40 10 10 0 10 30 WENATCHEE 55 74 56 77 53 69 / 40 10 10 0 10 30 OMAK 52 72 51 76 48 72 / 50 50 10 10 10 20 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...NONE. WA...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 1109 PM PDT SAT MAY 31 2008 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-011300- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-COEUR DALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE- CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS-LEWISTON AREA- LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES-NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS- LOWER GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES-WASHINGTON PALOUSE- MOSES LAKE AREA-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-SPOKANE AREA- NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS-WENATCHEE AREA- EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES-OKANOGAN VALLEY-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 1109 PM PDT SAT MAY 31 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO...CENTRAL WASHINGTON...EAST CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
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, June 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: 107436.