Lightning set off many wildfires across parts of Southwest Idaho on the evening of the 14th.
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.
Lightning set off many wildfires across parts of Southwest Idaho on the evening of the 14th.
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 14, 2:01 PM MST, 4 hours 59 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 301 PM MDT SUN AUG 14 2011 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY...MOISTURE IMPULSE IN THE SW FLOW ALOFT WAS OVER SW IDAHO THIS AFTERNOON. RUC HAS A MINIMAL CAP OF 20-80 JOULES IN SPOTS WHILE IN CONTRAST THE HIGHER CAPE VALUES OF 200 J/KG FORMED NEAR SOUTHERN TWIN FALLS COUNTY AND NORTHERN VALLEY COUNTY. IT WAS UNSTABLE HOWEVER FROM THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS THROUGH OWYHEE AND MALHEUR COUNTIES WHERE GOES LIS WERE AS LOW AS -2.2C. THIS AREA WILL CONTINUE TO SHIFT EAST AS INSTABILITY INCREASES OVER THE BLUES SO THAT WILL BE THE AREAS FOR ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THIS FORECAST RELEASE. GUSTY S TO SW WINDS 10-20 MPH /LOCALLY 25 MPH/ HAVE DEVELOPED AS EXPECTED FOR EXAMPLE AT MCCALL AND ROME AND WILL SPREAD ACROSS SW IDAHO THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND INTO THE WESTERN MAGIC VALLEY FOR TONIGHT AND MONDAY. THE MOISTURE SOUTH OF TWIN FALLS WILL SHIFT EAST MONDAY AND THE MOISTURE AXIS WITH THE FRONT IS NOW EXPECTED TO MAKE IT AS FAR SOUTH AS BURNS TO IDAHO CITY TUESDAY MORNING BEFORE SHEARING APART. TEMPERATURES WILL COOL OFF 5-8 DEGREES FOR MONDAY AS THE FRONT AND ASSOCIATED UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVE THROUGH. TEMPERATURES WILL THEN REBOUND 2-6 TUESDAY AS WARMING MOVES IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST WITH RIDGING IN THE SW FLOW ALOFT AND LIGHTER WINDS AS A THERMAL AXIS NUDGES INTO OREGON. .LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...INFLUENCE OF AN UPPER RIDGE OVER THE FOUR CORNERS WILL KEEP THE EXTENDED PERIOD HOT AND DRY. A WEAK SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH SOUTHERN CANADA WILL FLATTEN THE RIDGE LATE IN THE WEEK BUT IT/S EFFECTS OVER THE FORECAST AREA WILL BE MINIMAL. GOOD AGREEMENT IN THE MODELS THAT THE RIDGE REBUILDS OVER THE PAC NW NEXT WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES PEAK ON THURSDAY...FALLING OFF A FEW DEGREES FRI/SAT IN RESPONSE TO THE PASSING SHORT WAVE TROUGH. && .AVIATION...VFR THROUGH MONDAY. SCATTERED CUMULUS OVER THE EAST-CENTRAL OREGON AND WEST CENTRAL IDAHO MTNS. ISOLATED TOWERING CUMULUS THROUGH THIS EVENING COULD DEVELOP INTO A SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM THROUGH 03Z. GUSTY SURFACE WINDS TO 25 KTS WILL DIMINISH AFTER 02Z THIS EVENING. SW WINDS TO 25 KTS ALOFT. && .BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...NONE. OR...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/BOISE SHORT TERM...VM LONG TERM....DG/CB AVIATION.....DG
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 535 AM MDT SUN AUG 14 2011 IDZ011>016-028>030-033-ORZ061>064-151145- WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-LOWER TREASURE VALLEY ID-BOISE MOUNTAINS- UPPER TREASURE VALLEY-SOUTHWEST HIGHLANDS-WESTERN MAGIC VALLEY- CAMAS PRAIRIE-OWYHEE MOUNTAINS-SOUTHERN TWIN FALLS COUNTY- UPPER WEISER RIVER-HARNEY COUNTY-BAKER COUNTY-MALHEUR COUNTY- LOWER TREASURE VALLEY OR- 535 AM MDT SUN AUG 14 2011 /435 AM PDT SUN AUG 14 2011/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL IDAHO...SOUTHWEST IDAHO...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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A 30 to 50 square mile hot spot was detected on satellite imagery after lightning occured across the area on the evening of the 14th.
Boise BLM dispatch reported 9 new wildfires in Ada and Elmore Counties as a result of lightning on the evening of the 14th. The wildfires continued to burn overnight until the morning of the 15th.
A lightning caused wildfire shut down Interstate 84 in both directions near Twin Falls for 2 hours from 845 PM MST to 1045 PM MST. The fire continued to burn overnight until mid day the following day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 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: 331166, 331164, 331163.