A deep upper-level trough sagged into the Pacific Northwest during the afternoon of October 5th. Stable rainfall was common through most of the morning and early afternoon over eastern Washington.
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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 OTX wrote it up.
A deep upper-level trough sagged into the Pacific Northwest during the afternoon of October 5th. Stable rainfall was common through most of the morning and early afternoon over eastern Washington. During the early afternoon, a jet streak rounding the base of the trough coupled with cooling aloft, and brief thinning of the overcast skies on the eastern flank of the precipitation shield contributed to a rapid, very short-lived window of surface based instability and low-level wind shear over the Washington Palouse. This resulted in the development of two intense updrafts and formation of a pair of funnel clouds, one which briefly touched down over open wheat fields in northern Whitman County. There was no damage or injuries related to the tornado.
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 Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 5, 1:58 PM PST, 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 258 PM PDT Wed Oct 5 2011 The National Weather Service in Spokane will be issuing their Area Forecast Discussions (AFD) and Public Information Statements (PNS) in mixed case. If you encounter any problems as a result of this test, please call our office at (509) 244-0110. More information can be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notification/pns11mixedcasel.htm .SYNOPSIS... Following the cool and rainy day today, this early fall storm system will move into the Central Rockies and four corners region. Rain showers will likely linger into Thursday night over the Idaho Panhandle. A drying trend is possible Friday and Friday night with temperatures warming slightly toward the weekend as high pressure builds back into the area. The next front and rain will be Sunday. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Thurs Nt...Guidance is similar with the wettest wave of this forecast cycle (we're currently in the middle of this cycle that will last into Thurs nt) as the low occludes and evolves into a slow- moving deformation axis right of the the track of the upper low currently digging strongly into Oregon. Though this track of the upper low and main vort max favors strong shearing, isentropic ascent along the front has already been sufficient to produce abundant precipitation in and near the cascades today. It's not until later tonight though Thursday nt that the trough axis exits the pacific Northwest and slows near the great basin and four corners. Even so, what's left of the front will accompany a decent mid- level axis that will be very slow to exit the area. This pattern will favor prolonged pcpn through Thurs night...first near the Cascades today and lastly across N Idaho and SE Wa under veered Nw flow that will produce a strong orographic component to the lift Thurs and Thursday night. Snow levels will be high enough to not be a big problem for any of the regional pass. We anticipated over an inch of liquid equivalent in the most mtn zones. bz Friday through Sunday night...the region will experience a break in the wet weather Friday and Saturday as a shortwave ridge of high pressure builds aloft...however this will be short-lived as another fast moving storm system ushers a cold front through the region Saturday night through Sunday bringing some cooling and chance for rain showers. Overall models are in fair to good agreement...with some minor timing differences noted mainly with the Saturday night/Sunday frontal passage. The ridge axis will be just reaching the WA coast Friday afternoon leaving the inland NW under a general dry...northwest flow aloft. A weak impulse slipping down the eastern flank of the ridge will clip the Idaho panhandle keeping a very slim chance for a few mountain showers, but precipitation that does materialize will be very light. The ridge will transition across the inland NW on Saturday leading to a mostly dry forecast away from the immediate cascade crest where westerly upsloping flow will keep the shower machine ongoing. With the recent rainfall, clearing under the ridge, and light winds... there is a good potential for patchy to areas of fog throughout the northern valleys of northeastern WA...extending into north ID. A few of the typical cool spots may even flirt with the freezing mark. The next storm system is currently located near the dateline and posed to move through the region Saturday night through Sunday. The storm system will have an appreciable moisture tap of precipitable water values near 0.80-1.00" with decent frontal structure. However, due to the fast nature of the system, we are not expected too much in the way of precipitation amounts with portions of the lower basin and southwestern reaches of the CWA potentially only experiencing trace amounts. details will become a bit more clear as the wave crosses into the eastern pacific within the next few days. /sb Monday through Thursday...The wet weather pattern shows little sign of breaking this period as longwave trough axis remains parked between 130-140w. Models are in surprisingly good agreement that next weather disturbance will move into the region Monday afternoon/night. This system can be tracked to a very wet disturbance currently just off the southern Japan coast. Most of the model solutions suggest the rain from a warm front and strong isentropic ascent will move into the Cascades in the morning and across the remainder of the Inland NW during the day. This system should be a fast mover as it is followed by a 100+ kt zonal or westerly upper level jet which is expected to parallel the Washington-Oregon border through Tuesday. Meanwhile 500 mb temperatures drop below -20c which suggests the possibility of good potential instability. The combination of moderate southwest- west low-level flow behind the front and the potential instability suggests an abundance of post-frontal shower activity with snow levels as low as 5500 feet near the Canadian border and 6500 feet elsewhere. Most of the showers will be confined to the immediate Cascade Crest and the mountains of northeast Washington and north Idaho. Rainfall totals (or snowfall over the mountains) do not look too impressive as the tap of sub-tropical moisture sinks rapidly south of our area. By Wednesday and Thursday the jet begins to shift slowly northward in response to the next trough nearing the coast. This will result in a drying trend across the southern zones with the threat of showers continuing across the north. Temperatures through the period will remain at or below the seasonal normals. fx && .AVIATION... 18z TAFS: An upper level low will track into Oregon today and drift to the southeast tonight. Deep southerly flow will bring bands of rain to eastern Washington and northern Idaho today. Low level easterly flow will favor low ceilings along the East Slopes of the Cascades including the Wenatchee area where ceilings below 2000 feet look likely between 20Z AND 23Z. Low stratus should break up around Wenatchee, and will become favored around Spokane, Pullman and Coeur D'Alene especially by mid to late evening. BZ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 44 55 40 59 40 63 / 70 30 10 0 0 10 Coeur d'Alene 44 53 40 57 39 64 / 80 40 10 0 0 10 Pullman 46 54 39 58 35 64 / 70 60 20 0 0 0 Lewiston 46 56 44 64 43 68 / 70 70 20 0 0 0 Colville 43 60 35 65 36 65 / 80 60 10 0 0 10 Sandpoint 44 50 40 56 33 61 / 100 70 20 10 10 10 Kellogg 42 49 41 53 38 60 / 90 90 60 20 10 10 Moses Lake 41 66 40 65 40 67 / 50 10 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 44 64 45 65 45 67 / 60 10 0 0 0 0 Omak 41 66 37 66 38 65 / 50 10 0 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 711 AM PDT WED OCT 5 2011 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-061400- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-COEUR D'ALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE- CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS-LEWISTON AREA- LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES-NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS- LOWER GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES-WASHINGTON PALOUSE- MOSES LAKE AREA-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-SPOKANE AREA- NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS-WENATCHEE AREA- EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES-OKANOGAN VALLEY-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 711 AM PDT WED OCT 5 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO...CENTRAL WASHINGTON...EAST CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON...NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 248 PM PDT WED OCT 5 2011 WAZ033-035-036-060000- WASHINGTON PALOUSE-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-SPOKANE AREA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...PULLMAN...COLFAX...ROSALIA... LA CROSSE...OAKESDALE...TEKOA...UNIONTOWN...RITZVILLE... GRAND COULEE...ODESSA...WILBUR...COULEE CITY...SPOKANE...CHENEY... DAVENPORT...ROCKFORD 248 PM PDT WED OCT 5 2011 AT APPROXIMATELY 220 PM PDT...TWO FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE SPOTTED JUST TO THE NORTHWEST OF SAINT JOHN. THE CLUSTER OF SHOWERS THAT CONTAINED THE FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE MOVING TO THE NORTH...NORTHWEST TOWARD SOUTHERN SPOKANE COUNTY...EASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY AT 10 TO 15 MPH. THESE FUNNEL CLOUDS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO POSE A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY DUE TO THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY ARE PRODUCED. HOWEVER...IF YOU SEE ONE OF THESE FUNNEL CLOUDS AND YOU FEEL YOUR SAFETY IS AT RISK...TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF TO SEEK APPROPRIATE SHELTER. CONDITIONS THAT FAVOR WEAK FUNNEL CLOUD FORMATION WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA THE NEXT FEW HOURS. BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SEEING FUNNEL CLOUDS...BUT ALSO BE AWARE OF THE MINIMAL SAFETY THREAT THEY PRODUCE. CONTINUE TO MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.
The Spokane radar (KOTX), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:20 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A farmer in northern Whitman County spotted two funnel clouds the afternoon of October 5th approximately thirteen miles northwest of Saint John. One funnel cloud briefly touched down over open wheat fields.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Washington, 2011Warnings in Washington, October 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: 348572.