A 2,000 acre wildfire caused by lightning strike occurred 15 miles west of Stanley. It initially caused road closures and campground evacuations.
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 PIH wrote it up.
A 2,000 acre wildfire caused by lightning strike occurred 15 miles west of Stanley. It initially caused road closures and campground evacuations. No property damage occurred.
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 19, 6:59 PM MST, 5 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 759 PM MDT THU AUG 19 2010 .UPDATE...UPPER TROUGH HAS PUSHED WELL INTO WYOMING PER WV SAT IMAGERY THIS EVENING. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS FORMED AT THE BACK EDGE OF THE MOISTURE PLUME IN THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE REGION BUT HAVE DISSIPATED THIS EVENING. CLOUDS DECREASING RAPIDLY PER IR SAT IMAGERY AS FLAT RIDGE MOVES IN. HAVE REMOVED ALL HINT OF POPS OVERNIGHT AND DECRAESED CLOUD COVER AS WELL. ALL OTHER GRIDS ARE IN GOOD SHAPE SO NO FURTHER UPDATES ANTICIPATED THIS EVENING. DMH && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 231 PM MDT THU AUG 19 2010/ DISCUSSION...TROUGH AXIS IS MOVING EAST TO WYOMING THIS AFTERNOON. STILL HAVE THREAT OF AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM NEAR ISLAND PARK AND NEAR CITY OF ROCKS...MAYBE BEAR LAKE. OTHERWISE...EXPECT ACTIVITY WILL END PRETTY EARLY THIS EVENING AS DRIER WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT TAKES OVER. THE NEXT DEVELOPING TROUGH NEAR 140W CAN BE SEEN IN WATER VAPOR IMAGERY AND APPEARS TO BE TAKING SHAPE AT A QUICK PACE. THE DRY WESTERLY FLOW OVER SOUTHEAST IDAHO FOR FRIDAY COULD BEGIN TO BUCKLE TO THE SOUTHWEST. WILL HAVE TO WATCH THE VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR TOWARDS GREAT SALT LAKE AS IT COULD SLIP NORTH FRIDAY AFTERNOON RATHER THAN WAIT FOR SATURDAY EVENING AND SUNDAY. THE 12Z GFS INCREASES THE SPEED OF THIS TROUGH CLOSER TO THE ECM TIMING AND BY SUNDAY BEGINS BRING DRY WESTERLY FLOW BACK TO THE FORECAST AREA QUICKLY. BY 12Z THURSDAY MODELS BRING THE THIRD TROUGH INTO SOUTHEAST IDAHO. THE ECM LOOKS ABOUT 12 HOURS QUICKER AND A LITTLE LESS AMPLIFIED THAN THE GFS. THE STRONG THICKNESS LOWERING IN THE GFS SUGGEST ABOUT 7 TO 9 DEGREES COOLING ON THURSDAY AND MAY BE A BIT OVER DONE. RS AVIATION...EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS THE NEXT 24 HOURS. WINDS WILL BE BREEZY ACROSS THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN WITH ZONAL FLOW ALOFT. WYATT FIRE WEATHER...A MINOR DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH WESTERLY FLOW IS CURRENTLY BRINGING ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS. WINDS ARE CURRENTLY 20 TO 25 MPH AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY BELOW 15 PERCENTS ACROSS THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN. LOOK FOR UPPER LEVEL RIDGING TO BUILD IN FRIDAY AHEAD OF THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WHICH WILL IMPACT THE AREA SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. LOOK FOR WARMER AND DRIER CONDITIONS ALONG WITH RELATIVELY LIGHT WINDS FRIDAY. SATURDAY WINDS WILL START TO PICK UP ACROSS THE AREA AHEAD OF THE NEXT TROUGH. CURRENTLY...MODELS HAVE WIND SPEEDS JUST BELOW RED FLAG CRITERIA ON SATURDAY. SUNDAY LOOK FOR WINDS WELL IN RED FLAG CRITERIA. HOWEVER...THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL INCREASE WITH THE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH. CURRENTLY EXPECT BORDERLINE RED FLAG CRITERIA FOR ZONES 409 AND 410. ADDITIONALLY...LOOK FOR ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ACROSS THE AREA. WYATT && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A 2,000 acre wildfire caused by lightning strike occurred 15 miles west of Stanley. It initially caused road closures and campground evacuations. No property damage occurred.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2010
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: 259057.