An atmospheric river of moisture brought near 48 hours of steady rainfall to Northeast Washington. 48 hour rainfall totals generally varied between one and up to near three inches.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
An atmospheric river of moisture brought near 48 hours of steady rainfall to Northeast Washington. 48 hour rainfall totals generally varied between one and up to near three inches.
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 Mar 15, 1:48 PM PST, 1 hour 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 248 PM PDT SUN MAR 15 2015 .SYNOPSIS... Rain will come to an end for most of the Inland Northwest this evening. Then it is expected to become quite windy tonight as a cold front sweeps through the region. Wind gusts of 40 mph will be possible across southeast Washington, the West Plains, and portions of the Columbia Basin. Some light showers will linger over the far north Idaho Panhandle Monday, but most of Washington will be dry. Another shot of rain will be possible Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by drier conditions Thursday and Friday. && .DISCUSSION... ...Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisories are in Effect through this Evening for Portions of the Idaho Panhandle, Northeast Washington, and the North Cascade Burn Scar Areas... Tonight: A deep surface low will spread east across the state of Washington this evening bringing more rain to north Idaho and eastern Washington. As of 2AM, the center of the surface low was making landfall over southwest Washington. A slow moving warm front ahead of the surface low was laying in the vicinity of Interstate 90. Strong thermal packing along the front has been the focus for broad warm frontal lift overnight through the day. Many areas in the Cascades, northeast Washington and north Idaho have received in excess of an inch of rain during the last 24 hours. Up to an additional half inch of rain will be possible this evening along the Canadian border as the surface low crosses the Cascades and draws the warm front northward. Developing westerly, cross Cascade flow early this evening will bring an abrupt end to our rain along the East Slopes and Columbia Basin. Drying will spread rapidly across eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle in the mid to late evening hours as the surface low quickly shears eastward. Our attention will turn from rain to wind behind the cold front. There will likely be a 6 to 8 hour period of breezy to windy conditions tonight as a strong southwest pressure gradient develops over southeast Washington and the southern Panhandle. Steepening low level lapse rates suggest that 850mb 40-45kt momentum will produce gusts around 40 mph around Spokane, Pullman, Pomeroy, and Ritzville. Mountain ridges will also be quite windy tonight. Monday and Tuesday: Wrap around deformation precipitation is forecast by the models to linger Monday around Bonners Ferry, Clark Fork, and Priest Lake. The remainder of the Inland Northwest should dry out. Chilly breezes in the morning will give way to light winds as the pressure gradient relaxes. It looks like a relatively mild afternoon on Monday. A fair amount of model uncertainty remains for Tuesday. The NAM and GFS shear a weak upper level disturbance across far southeast Washington into the Idaho Panhandle. The Canadian model and ECMWF bring this disturbance further north and west, producing light rain showers into central and eastern Washington as well as the Panhandle. A compromise was followed with 20-40 percent chances of showers for the majority of the forecast area. /GKoch Wednesday through Sunday...In the wake of Tuesday's weak front passage models generally agree on a short lived ridge building over the Pacific Northwest WEDNESDAY but suggest there will be some lingering scattered showers over the Cascade and north Idaho Panhandle mountains. Snow levels will will still be generally above 5000 feet with little accumulation. At this point, temperatures look to be slightly above normal with low to mid 50s in the northern tier areas with lower 60s south in the Basin and Lewiston/Clarkston area. Going into Thursday and Friday another developing low pressure system off the Pacific coast pumps up the ridge and high temperatures 5 to 8 degrees. Enough moisture and energy may spill into the ridge to bring some light rain or sprinkles to the Cascades and northern mountains near the Canadian border There is some model timing differences with the GFS being more AGGRESSIVE with light rain potential in these areas. Either way, points farther south and east should be potentially drier and warmer ahead of this Pacific weather system. Going into early Saturday the Pacific trough is scheduled to kick inland with a fair amount of energy and moisture for a period of widespread showers clearing from the southwest by Saturday as the cold front moves through. This weather systems looks to be a fairly quick mover with drying westerly flow in its wake Saturday night and some wind gusts possibly near 30 mph. This front will bring high temperatures back down another 5 degrees Saturday into Sunday. Sunday looks to be fairly dry with slightly warmer temperatures and light wind. TC && .AVIATION... 18Z TAFS: A warm front will lie across the region today and provide the focus for the moderate rain. It will also play havoc to the winds and lead to areas of MVFR/IFR cigs/vsbys close to the boundary. Currently it stretches across the KGEG-KCOE corridor to the KMWH area with light speeds but erratic directions. The warm front will creep northward as a surface low tracks east the Cascades late this afternoon and into southern BC by this evening. This will bring a cold front across the TAF sites this evening and cause winds to switch to the west/southwest and turn gusty. It will also bring an end to the steady rain with drier VFR conditions expected after midnight. Areas of IFR cigs are possible by 12z. /rfox. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 40 55 35 52 38 56 / 100 10 10 40 40 10 Coeur d'Alene 39 55 34 51 38 55 / 100 20 10 40 40 20 Pullman 43 57 42 53 39 57 / 100 10 10 40 30 20 Lewiston 47 61 44 57 42 60 / 60 10 10 50 30 20 Colville 42 55 34 52 36 59 / 100 30 10 20 40 20 Sandpoint 41 50 31 51 35 54 / 100 60 10 30 50 40 Kellogg 39 53 36 51 37 52 / 100 50 10 50 40 50 Moses Lake 40 61 37 59 37 63 / 60 0 10 20 10 10 Wenatchee 41 61 43 61 42 65 / 80 10 10 20 20 10 Omak 38 56 35 58 36 63 / 100 10 10 20 30 10 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 504 AM PDT SUN MAR 15 2015 IDZ002-003-026-027-WAZ032>038-041-043-044-161400- COEUR D'ALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE-LEWISTON AREA- LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES- LOWER GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES-WASHINGTON PALOUSE- MOSES LAKE AREA-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-SPOKANE AREA- NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS-WENATCHEE AREA- OKANOGAN VALLEY-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 504 AM PDT SUN MAR 15 2015 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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. IDZ001-004-WAZ031-042-161400- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS- NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS-EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES- 504 AM PDT SUN MAR 15 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT RAIN WILL CONTINUE TODAY AND TONIGHT INCREASING IN INTENSITY AT TIMES. HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE NEAR THE CASCADE CREST AS WELL AS IN THE IDAHO PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS. HEAVY RAIN MAY LEAD TO INCREASED DANGER OF ROCK OR MUD SLIDES IN STEEP TERRAIN. LOW LYING AREAS WITH POOR DRAINAGE MAY ALSO SEE SOME MINOR FLOODING ISSUES THIS WEEKEND. SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS WILL SEE INCREASED FLOWS. PLEASE SEE OUR WEATHER STORY AT: HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/FXC/WXSTORY.PHP?WFO=OTX .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 debris flow. Local standard time, as filed.
Law enforcement reported a small rock slide near Hunters, Washington.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, March 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: 555484.