A fire in Bannock County near Chinese Peak was started by juveniles playing with matches. It burned 1,280 acres and destroyed one home and adjacent barn.
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 fire in Bannock County near Chinese Peak was started by juveniles playing with matches. It burned 1,280 acres and destroyed one home and adjacent barn. The fire began at 2 pm MDT on August 15th and was 100 percent contained by August 18th.
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 15, 7:53 AM MST, 5 hours 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 853 AM MDT MON AUG 15 2011 .UPDATE...NO UPDATES PLANNED FOR THIS MORNING. SURFACE COLD FRONT IN PLACE OVER EASTERN IDAHO WITH VERY SLOW PROGGED MOVEMENT THROUGH THE DAY. RADAR SHOWS WEAK RETURNS OVER MUCH OF THE EASTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA BUT LITTLE REACHING THE GROUND UNDER 25DBZ. ISOLATED POPS PAINTED ACROSS THE AREA TODAY SEEM REASONABLE GIVEN AMOUNT OF AVAILABLE MOISTURE AND POSITIONING OF SURFACE FRONT. DRIER AIR MASS DOES MOVE INTO THE REGION THIS EVENING WITH ONLY LINGERING WEAK POPS IN UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS AND ALONG WYOMING BORDER FOR THIS EVENING. WINDS COULD REMAIN GUSTY AHEAD OF FRONT BUT THREAT LESSENS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AS SURFACE GRADIENT WEAKENS. DMH && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 325 AM MDT MON AUG 15 2011/ DISCUSSION...TODAY THROUGH NEXT MONDAY. MORNING WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATING UPPER JET IS ENTERING SOUTHWEST IDAHO. JET SPEEDS OF AROUND 90 KTS WERE REPORTED IN AREA SOUNDINGS. AT THE SURFACE...A COLD FRONT IS PUSHING ACROSS SOUTHERN IDAHO WITH SHOWERS THAT HAVE LINGERED THROUGH THE NIGHT ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE BOUNDARY. STRONG WINDS WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY THE FRONT WITH SOME 35 TO 40 KT GUSTS EXPECTED THIS MORNING. BEST CHANCES OF SHOWERS THROUGHOUT THE DAY WILL BE OVER THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS AS THE FRONT APPROACHES. MODELS ARE PRODUCING SOME LIGHT PRECIP OVER THAT AREA UNTIL EARLY EVENING. THE FRONT AND ITS ASSOCIATED UPPER TROUGH WILL PUSH INTO WYOMING LATE TONIGHT BRINGING AN END TO THE PRECIPITATION. THE AREA WILL BEGIN SEEING AN INCREASE IN DRY AIR AS UPPER RIDGING BUILDS OVER THE WEST. THE DRY AIR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH FRIDAY. ON SATURDAY...GFS IS SHOWING A RETURN OF MONSOON MOISTURE IN EXTREME SOUTHEAST IDAHO. HAVE INCREASED POPS FOR SLIGHT CHANCES FOR THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. HINSBERGER AVIATION...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED WITH A LOW PRESSURE DISTURBANCE CROSSING SOUTHEAST IDAHO THIS MORNING. THE ASSOCIATED SURFACE FRONT AT 08Z IS PASSING KJER AND SHOULD BE OVER BEAR LAKE BY 18Z. BEST INSTABILITY IS OVER THE SOUTHEAST HIGHLANDS THIS AFTERNOON BUT CAN NOT RULE OUT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE SNAKE PLAIN THROUGH 20Z...THEN DRIER AIR MOVES IN FROM THE WEST. THEREFORE HAVE INCLUDED CB CLOUD LAYER IN LOCAL TAFS. LAPSE RATES ARE STEEP ENOUGH FOR SOME WINDS TO MIX DOWN TO SURFACE TODAY...MOSTLY SOUTHWEST 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 25 MPH. HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE BUILDS IN TUESDAY WITH DRIER AND MORE STABLE AIR. RS FIRE WEATHER...A LOW PRESSURE DISTURBANCE CROSSING SOUTHEAST IDAHO TODAY WILL BRING ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO THE SNAKE PLAIN EAST OF JEROME THROUGH ABOUT 1400 HOURS. AFTER THAT FOCUS OF WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL BE IN THE CARIBOU AND NORTHERN WASATCH THROUGH ABOUT 2100 HOURS. SURFACE SOUTHERLY WINDS BECOME SOUTHWEST 15 GUST 25 MPH WITH SURFACE FRONT NOW ABOUT JEROME AND MOVING TO BEAR LAKE BY 1400 HOURS. HIGH PRESSURE WITH DRIER AND MORE STABLE AIR RETURNS TO THE AREA ON TUESDAY. RS && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 540 AM MDT MON AUG 15 2011 IDZ017>025-031-032-161145- EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY-SAWTOOTH MOUNTAINS-UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS- UPPER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN-LOWER SNAKE RIVER PLAIN- SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS-CARIBOU HIGHLANDS- CACHE VALLEY/IDAHO PORTION-WASATCH MOUNTAINS/IDAHO PORTION- BIG AND LITTLE WOOD RIVER REGION-LOST RIVER/PAHSIMEROI- 540 AM MDT MON AUG 15 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN IDAHO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN IDAHO TODAY. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED WITH THESE STORMS. WINDS WILL BE MODERATE TO STRONG OVER THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS THIS MORNING AS A COLD FRONT PASSES THROUGH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WE ASK TRAINED SPOTTERS AND CITIZENS TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS WHEN IT IS SAFE TO DO SO. THESE CONDITIONS MAY INCLUDE HAIL...TORNADOES...STRONG WIND...DUST STORMS...SNOWFALL... EXTREME COLD TEMPERATURES...FREEZING RAIN OR HEAVY RAIN...DENSE FOG...AND FLOODING OR ICE JAMS. INFORMATION ABOUT THESE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS SHOULD BE CALLED INTO YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN POCATELLO USING THE 1-800 SEVERE WEATHER HOTLINE...OR 208-233-0834.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
200 PM MDT MON AUG 15 2011
IDZ023-025-152045-
BEAR LAKE ID-CARIBOU ID-BONNEVILLE ID-BANNOCK ID-
200 PM MDT MON AUG 15 2011
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN POCATELLO HAS ISSUED A
SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR...
CENTRAL BANNOCK COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO
EXTREME SOUTH CENTRAL BONNEVILLE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO
WESTERN CARIBOU COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO
NORTHWESTERN BEAR LAKE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO
UNTIL 245 PM MDT
AT 155 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 12 MILES NORTHEAST
OF ROBIN TO 11 MILES WEST OF GRACE TO 8 MILES NORTH OF SWAN LAKE..AND
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE
EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS...ALONG WITH FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
HATCH...
NITER...
GRACE...
SODA SPRINGS...
CONDA...
HENRY...
IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...TAKE SHELTER IN A
STURDY BUILDING.
LAT...LON 4255 11143 4235 11226 4253 11221 4267 11224
4303 11155 4284 11135
TIME...MOT...LOC 1959Z 239DEG 29KT 4271 11203 4260 11191
4245 11197
JKEYES1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A fire in Bannock County near Chinese Peak was started by juveniles playing with matches. It burned 1,280 acres and destroyed one home and adjacent barn. The fire began at 2 pm MDT on August 15th and was 100 percent contained by August 18th.
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: 344272.