The High Cascades Complex Wildfire which was started by lightning on August 24 was contained September 16 after burning 108,154 acres of timber, grass, and brush.
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 PDT wrote it up.
The High Cascades Complex Wildfire which was started by lightning on August 24 was contained September 16 after burning 108,154 acres of timber, grass, and brush.
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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 8:22 PM PST, 3 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 922 PM PDT WED AUG 31 2011 UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION .UPDATE...A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE CONTINUES TO MOVE THROUGH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS EVENING. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM STAYED TO THE NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA...WITH ONE SHOWER MOVING INTO FRANKLIN COUNTY BEFORE DISSIPATING. A FEW CLOUDS WILL MOVE INTO THE FAR NORTHEAST PORTION OF THE REGION THIS EVENING...BUT EXPECT PRECIPITATION TO REMAIN NORTH OF THE AREA. WINDS WILL DECREASE LATER THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. COLD TEMPERATURES ARE FORECASTED FOR CENTRAL OREGON WHERE A FREEZE WARNING IS IN EFFECT. A SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT HIGHLIGHTS AREAS SOUTH OF MADRAS FOR TEMPERATURES NEAR FREEZING FOR NORTH CENTRAL OREGON. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS TO BE ON TRACK. DMH && .AVIATION...06Z TAFS...WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO DECREASE AT ALL TAF SITES TONIGHT. EXPECT WINDS TO REMAIN BELOW 12 KTS TOMORROW AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE REGION. VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS. SOME SMOKE AND HAZE MAY IMPACT VISIBILITY AT KRDM DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS ON THURSDAY. DMH && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 200 PM PDT WED AUG 31 2011/ SHORT TERM...UPPER LEVEL TROUGH IS PROGRESSING ACROSS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS AFTERNOON WITH CLOUDS AND BREEZY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. THERE ARE SOME CUMULUS BUILD UPS OVER THE WALLOWA MOUNTAINS AND ALONG THE NORTHERN CASCADES BUT AM NOT EXPECTING ANY THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT OR PRECIPITATION IN FORECAST AREA. THE TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST TONIGHT WITH THE TROUGH AXIS OVER NORTHEAST OREGON BY EARLY THURSDAY. THE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO DIMINISH TONIGHT WITH STRONG RADIATIONAL COOLING WITH SOME PART OF CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL OREGON SEEING FREEZING TEMPERATURES AROUND SUNRISE. A FREEZE WARNING AND SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT HAVE BEEN ISSUED TO COVER THESE AREAS. ON THURSDAY...TEMPERATURES WILL START TO WARM AS DRY NORTHWEST FLOW WILL BE OVER THE AREA AND CONTINUE WARMING ON FRIDAY. BY SATURDAY...AN AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE EXPANDING NORTH FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES WITH TEMPERATURES BACK NEAR SEASONAL VALUES. 93 LONG TERM...SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...EXTENDED PERIODS LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE DOMINATED BY A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WHICH WILL SERVE TO PUT TEMPERATURES BACK TO ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH NEXT WEEK. WILL NEED TO WATCH A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA THAT THE MODELS ARE INDICATING TO PASS OVER THE REGION ON MONDAY. FOR NOW HAVE SOME POPS OF LESS THAN 10 PERCENT ON MONDAY AND WILL SEE HOW MODELS HANDLE THIS FEATURE OVER TIME. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 46 77 51 78 / 10 0 0 0 ALW 51 79 54 80 / 10 0 0 0 PSC 46 81 50 82 / 10 0 0 0 YKM 45 80 49 81 / 10 0 0 0 HRI 47 81 49 81 / 10 0 0 0 ELN 46 78 50 76 / 10 0 0 0 RDM 30 76 38 80 / 10 0 0 0 LGD 43 74 47 78 / 10 10 10 10 GCD 40 76 45 84 / 10 0 0 0 DLS 48 80 51 81 / 10 0 0 0 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...FREEZE WARNING FROM 1 AM TO 9 AM PDT THURSDAY ORZ509. WA...NONE. && THREAT INDEX THURSDAY : GREEN FRIDAY : GREEN SATURDAY : GREEN GREEN: NONE OR LIMITED NEED FOR WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES. YELLOW: A FEW WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES POSSIBLE OR IN EFFECT. RED: NUMEROUS WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES POSSIBLE OR IN EFFECT. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT... WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PENDLETON 84
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
520 AM PDT WED AUG 31 2011
ORZ041-042-044-049-050-502-503-505>509-WAZ024-026>030-520-521-
011215-
EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF OREGON-NORTH CENTRAL OREGON-
LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF OREGON-GRANDE RONDE VALLEY-WALLOWA COUNTY-
NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-JOHN DAY BASIN-OCHOCO-
JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS-
FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
FOOTHILLS OF THE SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
EAST SLOPES OF THE OREGON CASCADES-
EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF WASHINGTON-KITTITAS VALLEY-
YAKIMA VALLEY-LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF WASHINGTON-
FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-
NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-
EAST SLOPES OF THE WASHINGTON CASCADES-SIMCOE HIGHLANDS-
520 AM PDT WED AUG 31 2011
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST OREGON
AS WELL AS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON.
.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
FREEZE WARNING
EAST SLOPES OF THE OREGON CASCADES
COOLER AIR WILL BE OVER EASTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON TODAY AND
TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP INTO THE UPPER 20S AND 30S TONIGHT
IN CENTRAL OREGON AND THE MOUNTAINS. FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE
LIKELY SOUTH OF BEND AND IN MOUNTAIN VALLEYS, INCLUDING SUNRIVER,
SENECA, MEACHAM, AND UKIAH. A FREEZE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR
OREGON ZONE 509 FROM 1 AM TONIGHT UNTIL 9 AM PDT THURSDAY. FREEZING
TEMPERATURES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE IN OREGON ZONE 42 ABOVE 3000 FEET
INCLUDING REDMOND.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY
FREEZE WARNING THURSDAY MORNING
EAST SLOPES OF THE OREGON CASCADES
A FREEZE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR OREGON ZONE 509 FROM 1 AM TO 9
AM PDT THURSDAY. A SLOW WARMING TREND WILL BEGIN THURSDAY AND
CONTINUE THE REST OF THE WEEK.
.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
GRAPHICAL FORECASTS OF WEATHER HAZARDS OUT TO SEVEN DAYS
ARE DISPLAYED ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT:
WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/PDT/CURRENTHAZARDS/HWO.HTML
ALL LETTERS IN THE ABOVE URL ARE LOWER CASE.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, September 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: 334988.