The Scorpion Wildfire started on 07/15/2011. The cause is still under investigation.
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.
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 MFR wrote it up.
The Scorpion Wildfire started on 07/15/2011. The cause is still under investigation. By the time it was contained on 07/18/2011, it had burned 2945 acres and cost $545,000.
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 Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 15, 1:25 PM PST, 5 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR 225 PM PDT FRI JUL 15 2011 .SHORT TERM...IN GENERAL, COOLER THAN NORMAL WEATHER LOOKS TO CONTINUE OVER THE PACNW THROUGH AT LEAST THE NEXT WEEK AS THE PERSISTENT OMEGA BLOCK REMAINS IN PLACE ACROSS NORTH AMERICA. RAIN CHANCES WILL BE LOW EXCEPT FOR WHEN THE VARIOUS WAVES OF ENERGY ROTATE THROUGH THE BASE OF THE LONG WAVE TROUGH AND OVER US. THE FIRST SUCH WAVE IS ON OUR DOORSTEP NOW. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS AN UPPER LOW SPINNING ALONG THE BC COAST WITH THE TROUGH AXIS AND ASSOCIATED SFC FRONT EXTENDING TO THE SOUTH AND APPROACHING THE OR/NORTHERN CA COAST THIS AFTERNOON. STABLE AIR IS ALREADY WORKING IN ALONG THE COAST WHERE STRATUS REMAINS LOCKED IN. FURTHER EAST, CUMULUS HAS FORMED IN THE WARM SECTOR EAST OF THE CASCADES IN OREGON AND PORTIONS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. SO FAR THIS CONVECTION ISN'T PRODUCING ANYTHING, BUT AT LEAST ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS DAYTIME HEATING AND INSTABILITY ARE MAXIMIZED. THIS ACTIVITY WILL DIE OFF AFTER SUNSET, BUT THE FRONT WILL MOVE ONSHORE TONIGHT AND BRING THE CHANCE OF RAIN WITH IT. THINK THE RAIN WILL BE LARGELY CONFINED TO THE NORTH COAST BUT WILL KEEP SLIGHT POPS FURTHER INLAND AS STRATUS MOVES ALL THE WAY TO THE CASCADES BY TOMORROW MORNING. THE INTIAL BIT OF ENERGY WILL ROTATE NORTH AND OUT OF OUR AREA DURING THE DAY TOMORROW WITH SOME SUNSHINE RETURNING TO INLAND WESTERN VALLEYS. WILL HAVE SOME POPS WITH THIS FRONT EVERYWHERE EARLY TOMORROW BUT THE MAIN EFFECT FROM THE FRONT EAST OF THE CASCADES AND NORTHERN CA WILL BE COOLER AIR MOVING IN TOMORROW. STRATUS IS LIKELY TO REMAIN AT THE COAST BUT RAIN CHANCES WILL DROP TO ALMOST NOTHING BY AFTERNOON. THE UPPER LOW THEN DROPS SOUTH ALONG THE COAST SUNDAY AND TAKES UP A POSITION OFF THE OR/CA BORDER BY MONDAY AM. THERE IS FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT IN THIS AND THUS WILL KEEP SUNDAY DRY MOST PLACES. TEMPS WILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL THOUGH. THE MAIN QUESTION IS WHERE THIS UPPER LOW COMES ASHORE EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE CONSENSUS AT THE MOMENT IS TO BRING IT RIGHT OVER US LATE MONDAY OR TUESDAY. THERE IS SOME MODEL DISAGREEMENT BUT IN GENERAL AM CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO INCREASE POPS MAINLY OVER THE WEST SIDE LATE MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT AND THEN SPREAD IT INLAND TUESDAY. -WRIGHT .LONG TERM...MONDAY NIGHT JULY 18TH INTO SATURDAY JULY 23RD... A GENERAL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL REMAIN OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THROUGH THE PERIOD. THIS WILL MEAN A CONTINUATION OF TEMPERATURES MOSTLY BELOW NORMAL WITH PRECIPITATION CHANCES NEAR THE FAIRLY PALTRY SEASONAL NORMAL. AS FAR AS THE MODEL GUIDANCE GOES...THE GFS40 LIFTS OUT MOST OF THE ENERGY WITH THE TROUGH LATE IN THE WEEK.. MEANING TEMPERATURES WOULD WARM UP CLOSE TO NEAR NORMAL VALUES. THE ECMWF...MEANWHILE...HOLDS ONTO MORE TROUGHING FOR LONGER...KEEPING BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES WITH SUCCESSIVE SHORTWAVES MOVING THROUGH THE FLOW FOR THE PERIOD. BELIEVE A BLEND OF THESE SOLUTIONS IS PROBABLY THE BEST WAY TO GO...ULTIMATELY GOING WITH A SOLUTION LIKE THE ENSEMBLE MEAN. MORE SPECIFICALLY...A FAIRLY STRONG SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTHWARD ALONG THE PACNW COAST MONDAY NIGHT. HAVE INCREASED SHOWER CHANCES WITH THIS. THIS FEATURE APPEARS TO BE THE BEST CHANCE OF MEASURABLE RAINFALL FOR THE CASCADES AND WEST SIDE THROUGH PERIOD...PARTICULARLY IN OREGON. THE ECMWF LINGERS MORE ENERGY IN THE BASE OF THE TROUGH OVER THE AREA ON TUESDAY THAN DOES THE GFS40. ALTOGETHER EXPECT A CHANCE OF SHOWERS TO LINGER ACROSS THE AREA...BUT SHIFTED IT A BIT NORTHEAST DUE TO MODEL CONSENSUS. EXPECT TUESDAY TO BE A RATHER COOL DAY. THERE ARE SOME INDICATIONS THAT TEMPERATURES IN THE MEDFORD AREA COULD REMAIN BELOW 80F ON TUESDAY IN THE WAKE OF THE IMPULSE DUE TO INTRUSION OF THE MARINE LAYER. CURRENTLY HAVE GONE A LITTLE HIGHER DUE TO EXPECTED WEST-SOUTHWEST FLOW...BUT THIS WILL HAVE TO BE MONITORED. WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THE MODELS DO DIVERGE A BIT IN THAT THE ECMWF CONTINUES A PRECIPITATION THREAT MAINLY ALONG THE COAST AND UMPQUA BASIN...WITH A SLIGHTER CHANCE IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE GFS INDICATES ENOUGH RIDGING TO RESULT IN DRY CONDITIONS OUTSIDE OF THE MARINE LAYER WHICH WOULD LEAD TO A WARM UP. FOR NOW HAVE MAINTAINED A FORECAST OF TEMPERATURES ABOUT 5 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL WITH ONLY SMALL PRECIPITATION CHANCES DUE TO THE EFFECTS OF THE MARINE LAYER IN THE USUAL LOCATIONS. BTL && .AVIATION...MVFR CIGS IN STRATUS TO CONTINUE INVOF COAST THIS THROUGH THIS EVENING...VFR ELSEWHERE. WEAK INSTABILITY HAS LED TO SCT TCU EAST OF THE CASCADES AND SISKIYOUS THIS AFTERNOON WITH ISOLD CB/TS PSBL THROUGH THIS EVENING AT DESTABILIZATION CONTINUES. INVERTED-V FCST SOUNDINGS INDICATE POTENTIAL FOR GUSTY WINDS (WEAK DRY MICROBURSTS) INVOF CB/TS, ESP IN DECAYING PHASE. FRONT MOVES ONTO THE COAST TONIGHT WITH MARGINAL MVFR CIGS IN STRATUS SPREADING TO CASCADE CREST BY TOMORROW AM. -WRIGHT && .MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...NONE. CA...NONE. PZ...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Scorpion Wildfire started on 07/15/2011. The cause is still under investigation. By the time it was contained on 07/18/2011, it had burned 2945 acres and cost $545,000.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 2011
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: 334380.