A fire near Island Park began with a lightning stirke on September 4th and continued through September 17th and grew to 553 acres. Several forest service roads were closed due to the fire but it was in open country and threatened no property and was allowed to burn.
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.
A fire near Island Park began with a lightning stirke on September 4th and continued through September 17th and grew to 553 acres. Several forest service roads were closed due to the fire but it was in open country and threatened no property and was allowed to burn. Rainfall ended the fire.
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 Sep 4, 12:49 PM MST, 2 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 149 PM MDT FRI SEP 4 2015 .SHORT TERM...ELONGATED CLOSED LOW CURRENTLY EXTENDS FROM SOUTHERN BRITISH COLOMBIA SOUTHWARD THROUGH OREGON. THIS LOW WILL GRADUALLY WOBBLE EASTWARD THROUGH TOMORROW BEFORE RAPIDLY LIFTING OUT OF THE REGION ON SUNDAY. THIS IS AN ANOMALOUSLY DEEP LOW FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...WITH 500MB HEIGHTS AND TEMPS PROGGED TO BE AROUND THREE STANDARD DEVIATIONS BELOW CLIMATOLOGY. WHAT THIS MEANS IN TERMS OF SENSIBLE WEATHER IMPACTS IS THAT TEMPERATURES WILL BE 10 TO 20 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL ON SATURDAY...AND ONLY SLIGHTLY WARMER ON SUNDAY. THIS COLD COMBINED WITH PLENTY OF AVAILABLE MOISTURE WILL MEAN GRADUALLY FALLING SNOW LEVELS TONIGHT INTO TOMORROW. AFTER COORDINATION WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES AND CONSIDERING IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND HAVE MADE THE DECISION TO HOIST A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR 1 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW FROM NOON SATURDAY THROUGH 9 AM SUNDAY FOR CENTRAL MOUNTAIN ZONES ABOVE 7000 FT. THOSE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WILL NEED TO DRESS FOR THE COLD AND WET CONDITIONS. CANNOT RULE OUT SOME PATCHY SLUSH ON ROADWAYS AT PASS LEVEL AT TIMES...ESPECIALLY OVERNIGHT. OUTSIDE OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TOMORROW EVENING...PARTICULARLY ACROSS THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS. WILL ALSO BE POTENTIAL FOR SOME SNOW ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING...BUT WITH MORE LIMITED MOISTURE SNOW AMOUNTS WILL LIKELY BE LIMITED TO LESS THAN ONE INCH. A DRY SLOT WILL PUNCH ACROSS THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN LATE TONIGHT...ENDING PRECIPITATION CHANCES THERE BY SATURDAY MORNING. PRECIPITATION SHOULD END ACROSS THE EASTERN HIGHLANDS SATURDAY NIGHT AND ACROSS THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS SUNDAY MORNING AS DRYER AIR RAPIDLY RACES INTO THE AREA FROM SOUTH TO NORTH. EXPECT DRY BUT BREEZY CONDITIONS ON SUNDAY...PARTICULARLY ACROSS THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN AND EASTERN HIGHLANDS. AD .LONG TERM...RATHER BENIGN CONDITIONS EXPECTED FOR THE LONG TERM AS MAINLY DRY ZONAL FLOW SETS UP ACROSS THE REGION. A WEAK WAVE EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW WILL PASS THROUGH MONTANA ON MONDAY...WHICH WILL RESULT IN INCREASED CLOUD COVER ACROSS THE NORTH...ALONG WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR AN ISOLATED SHOWER. A SIMILAR DISTURBANCE MAY RIPPLE THROUGH THE FLOW AROUND MIDWEEK AS WELL...WITH AGAIN INCREASED SHOWER POTENTIAL ACROSS THE NORTH. GUIDANCE IN REASONABLY GOOD AGREEMENT IN ITS DEPICTION OF INDICATING A BUILDING RIDGE ACROSS THE WEST COAST BY LATE WEEK... LENDING INCREASED CONFIDENCE IN CONTINUED MODERATION OF SURFACE TEMPERATURES TO ABOVE NORMAL FROM MIDWEEK THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK. AD && .AVIATION...AN UPPER LEVEL LOW SYSTEM CURRENTLY OVER WASHINGTON AND OREGON IS STARTING TO BRING BREEZY WINDS ACROSS THE SNAKE RIVER PLAIN THIS AFTERNOON. ADDITIONALLY...LOOK FOR VICINITY THUNDERSTORMS FOR KSUN...KIDA AND TO AN LESSER EXTENT FOR KPIH LATER THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING. EXPECT VICINITY SHOWERS OVERNIGHT FOR KPIH...KIDA AND KSUN. ALSO...LOOK FOR A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AS WELL AS MODERATE TO STRONG WINDS AGAIN ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON. WYATT && .FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITY FOR ZONE 427 AS WELL AS 413 BELOW 5000 FEET FROM 1 TO 10 PM. EXPECT STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT IN THESE ZONES WITH GUSTS OF 25 TO 35 MPH EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING WITH MINIMUM HUMIDITY AROUND 13 TO 20 PERCENT. LOOK FOR WINDY CONDITIONS IN THOSE ZONES SATURDAY AS WELL BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. HOWEVER... HUMIDITY WILL BE SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER WITH MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES. EXPECT WETTING RAINS TODAY AND SATURDAY MAINLY IN OUR NORTHERN ZONES 475...476 AND 422 AS THE UPPER LOW PUSHES EAST THROUGH NORTHERN IDAHO. ALSO...LOOK FOR 1 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW ABOVE 7000 FEET MAINLY IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. WYATT && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 10 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR IDZ413-427. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM NOON SATURDAY TO 9 AM MDT SUNDAY FOR IDZ018-032. &&
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A fire near Island Park began with a lightning stirke on September 4th and continued through September 17th and grew to 553 acres. Several forest service roads were closed due to the fire but it was in open country and threatened no property and was allowed to burn. Rainfall ended the fire.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, September 2015
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: 602789.