Wildfire, Central Oregon
- When
- August 12, 12:30 PM PST to August 31, 11:59 PM PST
- Where
- Central Oregon forecast zone
- Reported by
- Park/Forest Service
- Coordinates
- 44.229, -120.920 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Inciweb.
Wildfire in Oregon, August 12 to 31, 2015
The County line 2 fire, started on Wednesday the 12th, in the afternoon. It started along Hwy 26, with multiple starts, on both sides of the Highway.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.
The County line 2 fire, started on Wednesday the 12th, in the afternoon. It started along Hwy 26, with multiple starts, on both sides of the Highway. With the weather conditions at the time, these fires quickly exceeded the capabilities of the local resources, and their mutual aid. The State Fire Marshals office, sent their Blue Management Team, along with 8 task force contingents, to help with structure protection. Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team#1, was also ordered, for the wild land component. It is a Unified Command between the two teams. This fire has gone through changing levels of evacuations, and numerous challenges.
What forecasters said that day
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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 12, 9:57 AM PST, 2 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 9:57 AM PST, 2 hours 33 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 1057 AM PDT WED AUG 12 2015 UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION .SHORT TERM...WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING STRONG JET MOVING ACROSS EASTERN OREGON THIS MORNING. AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ALONG THE LEADING EDGE OF THE JET. EXPECT THE SHOWERS AND STORMS TO CONTINUE FOR A FEW MORE HOURS OVER NORTHEAST OREGON MOUNTAINS MOVING INTO SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. MOST OF THIS ACTIVITY SHOULD MOVE NORTH OUT OF THE FORECAST AREA BY 11AM. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE DAY SKIES WILL BE MOSTLY SUNNY. WILL LIKELY GET SOME BUILDUPS OVER THE MOUNTAINS LATER IN THE AFTERNOON WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN WARM WITH HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S AND 90S. A FEW LOCATIONS IN THE COLUMBIA BASIN WILL BE NEAR 100. 94 && .AVIATION...18Z TAFS...A BAND OF MOISTURE EXTENDS FROM NORTHERN WALLOWA COUNTY AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON WEST TO THE WASHINGTON CASCADE EAST SLOPES. THIS BAND OF MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO DRIFT NORTH. COULD SEE A FEW SHOWERS NEAR KPSC AND KYKM EARLY IN THIS FORECAST PERIOD. LATER THIS AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING, SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP OVER THE BLUES EAST OF KPDT AND KALW. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL A STORM COULD DRIFT OFF THESE MOUNTAINS AND AFFECT EITHER OR BOTH OF THESE SITES. CONFIDENCE OF THESE STORMS OCCURRING AND/OR REACHING KALW AND KPDT IS LOW, SO WILL MENTION VICINITY SHOWERS FOR NOW. AT THIS TIME EXPECT FAIR AND DRY CONDITIONS AT KRDM, KBDN AND KDLS. SHOWERS/STORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE CASCADE CREST, BUT EXPECT THESE TO MOVE NORTH-NORTHWEST INTO THE CASCADE WEST SLOPES. WINDS OF 15-20 KTS WITH HIGHER GUSTS ARE EXPECTED AT KDLS. ELSEWHERE WINDS WILL GENERALLY BE 10 KTS OR LESS, THOUGH THEY COULD BE GUSTY AT TIMES. 90 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 445 AM PDT WED AUG 12 2015/ SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...OVERALL WEATHER PATTERN IS A PERSISTENT CLOSED UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM SPINNING OFF THE OREGON COAST AND RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE INLAND PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS PUTS THE FORECAST AREA UNDER A SOUTHERLY DIFFLUENT FLOW ALOFT WITH MARGINAL INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE LEADING TO SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEPENDING ON THE STRENGTH OF SMALL SHORTWAVES MOVING AROUND THE LOW. TODAY WILL SEE SOME ISOLATED SHOWERS AND OR THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY ALONG THE CASCADES AND OVER THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS. THERE IS NO REAL SHORTWAVE INDICATED IN THE MODELS FOR TODAY SO RELYING MORE ON DIURNAL HEATING AND THE DIFFLUENT FLOW ALOFT TO PROVIDE THE TRIGGER FOR CONVECTION DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING PERIOD THEN ENDING OVERNIGHT THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. ON THURSDAY THE UPPER LEVEL LOW BEGINS TO MOVE TOWARDS THE COAST ALLOWING FOR A LITTLE MORE FORCING IN THE ATMOSPHERE LENDING ITSELF TO MORE CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY LATE IN THE DAY AND INTO THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD. LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THE DEEP LOW OFFSHORE WILL FINALLY WEAKEN INTO AN OPEN TROUGH AND TRAVERSE EAST OF THE CASCADES ON FRIDAY. THE GFS IS THE FASTEST SOLUTION WITH THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM...BUT ONLY ABOUT A 6-HOUR DIFFERENCE. POPS WERE INCREASED OVER THE FORECAST AREA TO SHOW AT LEAST A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR ALL ZONES...BUT THE FRONT IS FAST MOVING AND RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE RELATIVELY LIGHT. THE NAM AND GFS ARE NOT ADVERTISING SIGNIFICANT INSTABILITY (CAPES AROUND 250-300 J/KG)...AND THE 80-KNOT BULK SHEAR WOULD IMPLY THAT SHEAR COULD BE TOO STRONG AND LIMIT VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STORMS. THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON FRIDAY WILL BE GUSTY WINDS AND MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES...ABOUT 15-20 DEGREES COOLER FRIDAY AFTERNOON COMPARED TO THURSDAY. IT SHOULD BE A PLEASANT WEEKEND FOR OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW SEASONAL TEMPERATURES DUE TO A DRY WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT. A SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER NORTHERN WASHINGTON ON MONDAY WILL LIKELY CAUSE THE ONSHORE FLOW TO STRENGTHEN AND INCREASE WINDS OVER PORTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA...BUT ANY CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION IS MINIMAL. WISTER && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 98 65 97 65 / 20 20 10 20 ALW 100 72 99 72 / 20 20 10 30 PSC 101 68 100 68 / 10 10 10 20 YKM 100 65 95 64 / 10 10 10 30 HRI 101 68 99 69 / 10 10 10 20 ELN 100 66 99 67 / 10 10 10 40 RDM 92 54 91 51 / 10 10 10 20 LGD 96 55 96 57 / 30 20 10 20 GCD 96 56 97 55 / 10 10 10 10 DLS 96 70 94 69 / 10 10 10 30 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...NONE. WA...NONE. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT... WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PENDLETON 94
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 12, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 12 to 13, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 12, 2015
- Damaging Winds in Texas, August 12, 2015
- Wildfire in Texas, August 12 to 20, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 12 to 13, 2015
- Damaging Winds in Texas, August 12 to 14, 2015
- Damaging Winds in Montana, August 12, 2015
- Damaging Winds in Maine, August 12, 2015
- Wildfire in Oregon, August 12 to 31, 2015
- Marine Thunderstorm Wind in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, August 12, 2015
- Marine Thunderstorm Wind in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, August 12, 2015
More
Every storm in Oregon in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, August 2015
Sources
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: 587958.