The end of June into the month of July saw above average temperatures and dry conditions for much of this period. The warm and dry conditions quickly resulted in receptive fuel conditions for wildfire.
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.
The end of June into the month of July saw above average temperatures and dry conditions for much of this period. The warm and dry conditions quickly resulted in receptive fuel conditions for wildfire.
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 Jul 19, 3:35 PM PST, 2 hours 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 435 PM PDT Fri Jul 19 2013 .SYNOPSIS... Warm and dry weather will prevail over the Inland Northwest for through next week. Temperatures will remain hot through the middle part of next week, with somewhat cooler temperatures towards the end of next week. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Monday: Broad flat upper level ridge will reside over the western US through next Monday. There is a weak wave that slips along the US/Canadian boarder early Monday. It is so dry, we may see a few clouds along the boarder, but that would be about it. All decent instability looks to remain to the north. Main concern over the weekend will be the blow dryer conditions along the east slopes of the Cascades. Very low daytime relative humidities coupled with afternoon and evening winds could create dangerous fire weather conditions. Right now it looks as though the wind speeds will remain below warning criteria, but nevertheless it will be breezy and dry. Temperatures will be above average for this time of the year. /Nisbet Tuesday through Friday: In general, dry westerly flow will prevail next week. However, there are a couple of details that could modify this. The first is some instability showers over the BC Rockies during the afternoon/evening each day. At this point it looks like this activity will be too far north to have any affect to our northeast mountains. The second is more difficult and uncertain. High pressure will be centered over Utah next week. This allows moisture from the desert SW to rotate clockwise around the high and approach our area from the southwest, which is typical this time of year. The computer models (GFS and ECMWF) both bring short waves of energy around the high and move them over southeast WA during the middle of next week. Some of these are generated by convection over California. Others some from Baja California, move offshore of California, and the come back onshore. None of this is out of the realm of possibility. But typically in these situations, the thunderstorms and precipitation remain over northern CA and southern OR, and all we get are the mid/high cloud blow-offs from these storms, maybe some sprinkles at best. So right now, my forecast keeps the thunderstorms out of our area and just brings clouds through, mainly Wednesday night (which will make for a warmer night). After that, we should see a cooling trend. The GFS MOS guidance has been too warm in the extended forecast this year so I went more with the ECMWF. RJ && .AVIATION... 00Z TAFS...Flat upper level ridge will result in clear skies and light winds across the region for the next 24 hours. The exception will be at KEAT where an increasing gradient across the Cascades will allow the winds to increase to 10-15kts through the night. /Tobin && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 63 93 61 90 60 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 59 93 58 87 57 87 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pullman 53 91 54 88 54 87 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston 64 98 64 98 62 96 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 57 93 55 92 56 91 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sandpoint 52 87 52 86 52 85 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kellogg 56 89 56 87 56 85 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moses Lake 62 99 60 95 60 95 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 65 95 63 93 63 93 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 60 96 60 94 60 94 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 603 AM PDT FRI JUL 19 2013 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-201315- 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- 603 AM PDT FRI JUL 19 2013 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...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A relatively small fire flared up along the north shore of Lake Wenatchee amongst a group of recreational cabins. Three of these cabins were destroyed during the blaze, and another sustained major structural damage. Damage costs were estimated.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, July 2013
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: 460075.