Lightning started two wildfires east of Pocatello in the mountains on August 8th. Both the Marsh Creek and South Toponts Wildfires grew to around 100 acres before being contained.
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.
Lightning started two wildfires east of Pocatello in the mountains on August 8th. Both the Marsh Creek and South Toponts Wildfires grew to around 100 acres before being contained.
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 8, 1:05 PM MST, 3 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 205 PM MDT WED AUG 8 2012 .SHORT TERM...UPPER RIDGE OVER THE ROCKIES IS PULLING A WELL DEFINED PLUME OF MONSOON MOISTURE INTO SOUTH CENTRAL AND CENTRAL IDAHO THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED TSTMS ARRE DEVELOPING OVER NE NV AND MOVING NORTH. SCT TSTMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING ACROSS MAINLY THE WESTERN PARTS OF THE FCST AREA. MONSOON MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW INTO ID ON THU...BUT IT WILL BE SOMEWHAT LIMITED. TSTM COVERAGE ON THU SHOULD BE MAINLY ISOLD. MOISTURE BECOMES MORE PLENTIFUL ON FRI...SO EXPECTING TSTM COVERAGE TO INCREASE. .LONG TERM...THE UPPER RIDGE GETS FLATTENED ON SATURDAY AS THE NORTHERN STREAM ZONAL FLOW BECOMES MORE PRONOUNCED OVER THE PAC NW. THIS PATTERN WILL PREVAIL INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL RESULT IN ISOLD MTN TSTMS...AND CLOSER TO NORMAL TEMPS. HEDGES && .AVIATION...SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE INTERACTING WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE LIFTING INTO SW CANADA WILL PRODUCE MODERATE TO STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER OUR WESTERN AREAS. LOOK FOR VICINITY THUNDERSTORMS FOR KBYI AND KSUN. EXPECT OUTFLOW WINDS IN OR AROUND THUNDERSTORMS UP TO 40 MPH. ONGOING WILDFIRES WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF SMOKE POTENTIALLY LIMITING VISIBILITY TO AROUND 6 MILES ONCE AGAIN FOR KSUN AND PERHAPS KBYI. WYATT && .FIRE WEATHER...SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE INTERACTING WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE LIFTING INTO SW CANADA WILL PRODUCE MODERATE TO STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE CENTRAL IDAHO MOUNTAINS...EASTERN MAGIC VALLEY AND THE WESTERN SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS. THUS...THE RED FLAG WARNING FOR THUNDERSTORMS AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE IN THESE REGIONS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. EXPECT THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ALONG OUR EASTERN BORDERS TOMORROW AFTERNOON PARTICULARLY ALONG THE WYOMING BORDER AND THE UPPER SNAKE HIGHLANDS. A PACIFIC TROUGH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING EVENING THUNDERSTORMS THURSDAY NIGHT. LOOK FOR THESE THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE FRIDAY INTO EARLY FRIDAY EVENING. A RED FLAG WARNING MAY BE NEEDED THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. THE UPPER LEVEL FLOW BECOMES MORE WESTERLY SATURDAY BRINGING DRIER AND MORE STABLE CONDITIONS. MODELS ARE SHOWING SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES AND SLIGHTLY BREEZY WINDS EARLY NEXT WEEK. AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN BORDERS EARLY NEXT WEEK ARE POSSIBLE AS WELL WITH THE RETURN OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE. WYATT && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT TONIGHT IDZ409-411-412-475>477. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 401 AM MDT WED AUG 8 2012 IDZ017>025-031-032-091000- 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- 401 AM MDT WED AUG 8 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN IDAHO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 411...475....476 AND 477 FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS FROM NOON THROUGH MIDNIGHT TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. .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.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning started two wildfires east of Pocatello in the mountains on August 8th. Both the Marsh Creek and South Toponts Wildfires grew to around 100 acres before being contained.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2012
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: 411112.