A wildfire broke out on Oct 4th with containment on Oct 13th. 230 acres burned primarily in timber and along the Powerline 2 corridor.
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 SEW wrote it up.
A wildfire broke out on Oct 4th with containment on Oct 13th. 230 acres burned primarily in timber and along the Powerline 2 corridor. No homes or significant structures burned.
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 Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 4, 8:30 AM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA 930 AM PDT THU OCT 4 2012 .SYNOPSIS...STRONG HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE NORTHEAST PACIFIC AND BRITISH COLUMBIA WILL MAINTAIN DRY NORTHERLY FLOW. THIS PATTERN WILL LAST INTO NEXT WEEK. EXPECT SUNSHINE EACH DAY WITH HIGHS NEAR OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL. && .SHORT TERM...DRY NORTHERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TODAY WITH AN UPPER TROUGH OVER THE MIDDLE PART OF THE COUNTRY AND AN UPPER RIDGE CENTERED NEAR 140W. THE FLOW ALOFT WILL TURN NORTHEASTERLY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS THE UPPER TROUGH OVER THE MIDDLE PART OF THE COUNTRY SHIFTS EAST AND THE PACIFIC RIDGE BUILDS EAST INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA. FLOW AT THE LOWER LEVELS WILL REMAIN NORTH/NORTHEAST THROUGH SATURDAY. ALL OF THIS ADDS UP TO CONTINUED DRY AND SUNNY DAYS. HIGHS WILL REMAIN NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL EACH DAY. CLEAR SKIES AND DRY LOW LEVELS WILL PRODUCE SOMEWHAT CHILLY MORNING LOWS... ESPECIALLY IN THE SHELTERED VALLEYS. SCHNEIDER .LONG TERM...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...THE BLOCK OVER THE NE PAC WILL PROLONG THE DRY SPELL ACROSS WESTERN WA THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. THE FLOW WILL TURN WEAKLY ONSHORE BY TUES SO MAY SEE AN INCREASE IN COASTAL STRATUS. THE ECMWF AND GFS BOTH SHOW THE PATTERN BREAKING DOWN TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK AS THE CLOSED LOW IN THE REX BLOCK IS FINALLY EJECTED EASTWARD. THE RIDGE WILL FLATTEN OVER THE PAC NW WITH THE FLOW ALOFT BECOMING MORE WESTERLY...LEADING TO AN INCREASE IN CLOUD COVERAGE. A PAC SYSTEM WILL BRING A SHOT OF RAIN TO B.C. WHICH MAY CLIP WESTERN WA THURSDAY OR FRIDAY. EXACT DETAILS ARE STILL UNCLEAR SO NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE FORECAST JUST YET. 33 && .AVIATION...A STRONG UPPER RIDGE OFFSHORE WILL CONTINUE PROVIDING THE REGION WITH STRONG NLY FLOW ALOFT...ALTHOUGH THE FLOW WILL WEAKEN WITH TIME THRU TONIGHT. CONTINUED LOW LEVEL OFFSHORE FLOW. THE AIR MASS WILL REMAIN DRY AND STABLE. KSEA...NLY WINDS OF 10-15 KT WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS NEAR 20 KT WILL PERSIST DURING THE DAY TODAY. EXPECT THE WINDS TO GRADUALLY DIMINISH OVERNIGHT. && .MARINE...STRONG HIGH PRES OVER BRITISH COLUMBIA COMBINED WITH LOWER PRES ALONG THE WASHINGTON COAST WILL RESULT IN PERSISTENT OFFSHORE FLOW THROUGH SATURDAY. THE HIGH OVER BRITISH COLUMBIA WILL WEAKEN DURING THIS WEEKEND. && .FIRE WEATHER...FUEL DRYNESS LEVELS ARE CURRENTLY ABOUT A STANDARD DEVIATION DRIER THAN NORMAL VALUES TYPICALLY SEEN IN AUGUST...WHICH IS HISTORICALLY THE DRIEST TIME OF YEAR. IN OTHER WORDS...FUEL DRYNESS LEVELS ARE NEAR RECORDS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. WEATHERWISE...A THERMAL PRESSURE TROUGH NEAR THE COAST AND COOL HIGH PRESSURE EAST OF THE CASCADES WILL LEAD TO AN INCREASE IN EAST WIND TODAY AND FRIDAY THROUGH THE CASCADE GAPS...INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND EAST-WIND PRONE PORTIONS OF THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA. THIS EAST WIND PATTERN WILL PERSIST THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. IN ADDITION... TIME-HEIGHT SECTIONS SHOW EXTREMELY DRY AIR GETTING DOWN LOW IN THE ATMOSPHERE TONIGHT...SO LOOKING AT SOME VERY POOR NIGHTTIME HUMIDITY RECOVERY. WITH ALL THIS SAID...RED FLAG WARNINGS ARE NOW IN EFFECT FOR ZONES WHERE CRITICAL COMBINATIONS OF WIND AND LOW HUMIDITY ARE FORECAST. EAST WIND WILL DIE OFF ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON...BUT LOW HUMIDITY WITH LOW-LEVEL SUBSIDENCE INVERSIONS WILL THEN PREVAIL EARLY NEXT WEEK. HANER && .SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...RED FLAG WARNING FOR MUCH OF THE SOUTH PART OF THE CWA. PZ...NONE. && WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE FOR THE GRAPHICAL AFD...VISIT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATEST_WEBAFD.HTML
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A wildfire broke out on Oct 4th with containment on Oct 13th. Little or no precipitation had fallen since mid July, so conditions were quite dry and receptive to fire. 230 acres burned primarily in timber and along the Powerline 2 corridor north of Shelton. No homes or significant structures burned.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, October 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: 417788.