Name: Wildfire in Washington, August 20 to 21, 2009
Start: 2009-08-20T21:00
End: 2009-08-21T17:00
Location: Washington

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 OTX wrote it up.

Abundant lightning triggered several fires in Grant County with the Grant County Board of Commissioners signing an emergency declaration to secure funding to suppress the fires. The Grant County Complex, which consisted of several fires around Soap Lake, burned 2,000 acres of sagebrush and grass land. About 15 fires were ignited from the lightning strikes throughout Grant 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 Aug 20, 8:48 PM PST, 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 8:48 PM PST, 12 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA
948 PM PDT THU AUG 20 2009

.SYNOPSIS...
HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION WILL MOVE EAST WITH A LOW PRESSURE
TROUGH OFF THE COAST TO BRING A COOLING TREND.  A WEAK COLD
FRONT PASSAGE ON FRIDAY MORNING WILL BRING BREEZY AND COOLER
TEMPERATURES FOR THE WEEKEND AS WELL AS A SMALL CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
REST OF TONIGHT...UPPER LEVEL TROF AND ASSOCIATED MID-LEVEL FRONT
CONTINUE TO SPREAD EASTWARD THIS EVENING. AS OF 04Z...THE TROF AND
FRONT WERE LOCATED NEAR THE CASCADE CREST AND WERE FAIRLY WELL
PLACED BY THE 00Z NAM AND GFS. HOWEVER BOTH MODELS WERE
UNDERPLAYING THE MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY AHEAD OF THE FRONT AS
CONVECTION WAS RAPIDLY FORMING OVER THE NORTH CASCADES AND EXTENDED
SOUTH INTO THE LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN. BOTH MODELS FORECAST THE
FORMATION OF ELEVATED CONVECTION OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA
AFTER 06Z AS THE TROF CROSSED THE CASCADE CREST. WHILE THE NAM AND
GFS ARE OFF ON THEIR TIMING...THE RUC WAS DOING A GOOD JOB DEPICTING
THE CURRENT SCENARIO. MODEL CROSS SECTIONS FROM THE RUC WERE
SHOWING AN ELEVATED THETA-E MAXIMUM BASED AROUND 600 MBS...WHILE MODEL
SOUNDINGS WERE SHOWING PLENTY OF POTENTIAL INSTABILITY ABOVE THAT
LEVEL. CAPE VALUES...EVEN WITH A STRONG CAP IN PLACE...WERE
NEARING 1000 J/KG. WHILE THUNDER CHANCES LOOK GOOD THROUGH THE
REMAINDER OF THE EVENING OVER THE WESTERN ZONES...THE CHANCES FOR
MEASURING PRECIPITATION WERE NOT GREAT GIVEN THE HIGH CLOUD BASES
AND LARGE DEWPOINT SPREADS IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE. THE FOCUS OF
THE CONVECTION WILL LIKELY MOVE FROM THE CASCADE AND WESTERN BASIN
ZONES THIS EVENING AND INTO THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA
OVERNIGHT...INCLUDING THE SPOKANE AREA.

GIVEN THE FAIRLY SLOW MOTION OF THE INCOMING TROF...THE THERMAL
RIDGE AXIS GETS HUNG UP OVER EXTREME EASTERN WA AND N IDAHO
OVERNIGHT. THE PRESENCE OF THE THERMAL RIDGE AND THE INCREASING
MID/HI LEVEL CLOUD COVER WILL RESULT IN A VERY MILD NIGHT FOR MOST
LOCATIONS. EVEN THE WESTERN ZONES...WHICH WILL GET PASSED BY THE
THERMAL RIDGE OVERNIGHT...WILL REMAIN MILD AS THE WINDS BEGIN TO
INTENSIFY.

AS FOR THE RED FLAG WARNING FOR THE CASCADE ZONES...WE WILL LET IT
LAPSE AT ITS SCHEDULED TIME. THE BEST INSTABILITY IS LIKELY
OCCURRING AT THE MOMENT AND SHOULD WANE RAPIDLY AFTER 06Z AS THE
THERMAL RIDGE PASSES TO THE EAST. ISOLATED LIGHTNING WILL ALSO ADD
TO THE THREAT FOR THE TIME BEING. FX

&&

.AVIATION...
VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED AT ALL TAF SITES THROUGH 00Z SATURDAY.
THERE IS A VERY SMALL THUNDER THREAT BETWEEN 06-12Z FRIDAY FOR
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND THE IDAHO PANHANDLE. HOWEVER...CONFIDENCE IS
STILL SO LOW THAT WE HAVE OPTED TO LEAVE OUT CB AND THUNDER IN THE
TAFS...AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE SITUATION AND UPDATE IF
NECESSARY. /NEUMAN

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
SPOKANE        66  89  58  84  53  79 /  10  10   0  10  10  10
COEUR DALENE  65  88  56  84  51  79 /  10  10   0  10  10  10
PULLMAN        63  89  54  84  52  79 /  10  10  10  10  10  10
LEWISTON       72  95  63  89  60  88 /   0  10  10  10  10  10
COLVILLE       64  91  53  88  50  83 /  10  10   0  10  10   0
SANDPOINT      59  87  52  83  47  81 /  10  10   0  10  10  10
KELLOGG        64  88  58  83  53  81 /  10  10  10  10  10  10
MOSES LAKE     68  92  58  88  53  84 /  10   0   0  10  10   0
WENATCHEE      72  90  62  87  58  83 /  10   0   0  10  10   0
OMAK           65  92  56  87  53  84 /  10   0   0  10  10   0

&&

.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...NONE.
WA...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR EAST SLOPES
     NORTHERN CASCADES...WENATCHEE AREA.

     RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PDT FRIDAY FOR LOWER GARFIELD AND
     ASOTIN COUNTIES...NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 20, 4:50 AM PST, 16 hours 10 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA
550 AM PDT THU AUG 20 2009

WAZ041-042-202200-
WENATCHEE AREA-EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES-
550 AM PDT THU AUG 20 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL
WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING...WITH HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS PEAKING TODAY. THIS WILL
PRODUCE A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WHICH TYPICALLY RESULTS IN EXTREME
FIRE BEHAVIOR FOR FIRES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS FOR MORE INFORMATION.
   SEARFWOTX /WWUS86 KOTX/
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE WEB AT WEATHER.GOV.

IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-043-044-202200-
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-OKANOGAN VALLEY-
WATERVILLE PLATEAU-
550 AM PDT THU AUG 20 2009

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...TODAY AND TONIGHT

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

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, Moses Lake Area

When: August 20, 9:00 PM PST to August 21, 5:00 PM PST
Where: Moses Lake Area forecast zone
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 47.095, -119.006 (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 Washington in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, August 2009

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: 194361.