Thunderstorms in the Spokane area spawned a funnel cloud.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
Thunderstorms in the Spokane area spawned a funnel cloud.
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 May 26, 3:35 PM PST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 435 PM PDT TUE MAY 26 2015 .SYNOPSIS... A slow moving low pressure system will bring scattered afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms to the Inland Northwest through Wednesday. Locally heavy downpours, frequent lightning, and small hail will be possible the next several days. Low pressure will gradually depart by Thursday, bringing a decrease in precipitation chances, but chances may increase again by early next week across the region. Temperatures warm back above normal from Wednesday into the end of the week, with highs pushing into 80s Thursday onward. && .DISCUSSION... Tuesday evening through Wednesday night: An area of low pressure passing through the region will continue to bring widely scattered showers and thunderstorms. As of 2PM...the center of the low was located roughly right over the National Weather Service or Airway Heights. Isolated thunderstorms were rotating to the north and west on the eastern and northern periphery of the low. Scattered thunderstorms were rotating south and east on the western and southern periphery...and only scattered light showers were tracking south down the East Slopes of the Cascades where cloud cover kept afternoon instability down so far. By far...the strongest storms were located on the western and southern periphery of the low stretching from Grant County to Benewah/Latah Counties. These storms have tapped into much better instability and are being assisted by smaller scale circulations pinwheeling around the low. Consequently, the storms have been producing intense rainfall rates, frequent lightning at times, and small hail as well as winds 20-30 mph. The remaining storms have also put down some brief heavy rainfall but are not as widespread. Through sunset, the main impacts with any storms will be torrential rainfall and potential for localized flooding as well as dangerous lightning strikes on the ground. A few of the stronger storms may produce small hail at times. For the East Slopes and more sensitive burn scars, the trends in cloud breaks the next few hours will be monitored closely with the idea that more sun breaks could lead to isolated heavier t-storms. The low will begin to migrate to the southeast overnight and tomorrow only reaching Riggins, ID by the late afternoon. The spokes of energy rotating around the low will keep the threat for showers and a few thunderstorms. This morning, we saw these small scale clusters in southern PO/Stevens County and a second/third over the Waterville Plateau, Palouse, and MT border. I anticipate a similar scenario continuing overnight but shifting slightly to the southeast as the center of the low drifts toward Lewiston. Any morning clusters will give way to widely scattered showers and storms, especially across southeastern WA and the lower ID Panhandle. We are looking at a decreasing trend from northwest to southeast suggesting thunder activity will be more isolated and tied to the mountains closer to the Cascades and Okanogan Country early in the day and this trend expanding south and southeast as the area of low pressure continues to drift south. Surface based instability (CAPE) does not change all that much Wednesday but there is a lot more CIN along the Hwy 97 corridor. This should decrease development in these locations but any storms that develop over the higher terrain will track to the south. There is an axis of 20-30kts of 0-6km shear along the northern periphery of the low which will stretch along an arc roughly from Prichard to Ritzville including Cd'A and Spokane. If the right amount of instability is in place and this shear is accurate, we could see a few more organized or longer lived cells capable of bigger hail than the last few days and frequent lightning in addition to heavy rainfall. /sb Thursday through Tuesday: The Inland NW turns milder and the threat of afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms largely retreats to the mountains, until early next week when the threat of storms expands again. We will have to watch the evolution of the system for early next week for the potential for stronger and more organized t-storms. First Thursday to Saturday the region transitions from the northwest to westerly flow as the low which has plagued the Inland NW exits to the east and another low drops south across British Columbia. That second low remains north of the border, yet in this evolving flow models continue to track a few weak impulses/shortwaves across the region. These will interact with instability to keep a threat of showers and thunderstorms alive. Locations in and around the mountains will see the primary threat region, though the lower elevations of eastern third of WA and ID may also see chances Thursday and late Friday into early Saturday. The primary threat will be during the afternoon and early evening. The main exceptions to that timing will be Friday night into Saturday morning when models also show some elevated instability and the passage of one of those mid-level impulses. So we could see some nocturnal shower and maybe thunderstorm threat then. None of these periods of precipitation potential look particularly problematic, but there could be the typical brief heavy downpours, small hail and gusty wind threat. From Sunday to next Tuesday the flow turns southwest to southerly as a deeper trough migrates across the Pacific and moves into the western United States. Potential impulses coming up from the south will keep shower chances alive on Sunday afternoon and evening, but mainly around the north and eastern mountains. By Monday and Tuesday models have been somewhat consistent in showing a potentially strong shortwave swinging into the region. The precise evolution is apt to chance. Current model runs show the first stronger impulse and deeper moisture plume pushing toward the southeast CWA Sunday night into early Monday, while the stronger parent trough swings in Monday afternoon into Tuesday. The core of the lifts and deeper shear skims by southeast WA and central ID into western MT, so the more organized storm potential may remain there. However all areas in this moisture rich and unstable environment will see an increasing threat of showers and thunderstorms. However depending on the precise track of the shortwave and location of the shear, we could be looking at more organized and stronger thunderstorms across the region. It is still many days out and the models may go either way, so stay tuned. Temperatures are expected to warm through the end of this week, with the milder air being pumps in as the flow turns west and southwest. This means high pushing into the 80s and lower 90s for some. By the start of the new work week, however, models show temperatures dipping back down closer to normal with cooler air riding in with the incoming trough. /J. Cote' && .AVIATION... 00Z TAFS: An upper level low pressure circulating over KGEG at 00Z Wednesday will weaken and move to near KMYL by 00Z Thursday. The proximity of hti slow and a moist air mass will generate widespread SHRA and TSRA this evening with most TAF sites subject to showers and possibly a brief thunderstorm with MVFR cielings and vis through 03-04Z. Shoers will become isolated after 04Z but activity will increase Wednesday afternoon again. The KMWH and KEAT will be at a smaller risk of storms on Wednesday and may be missed altogether...while storms will be less widespread but still present in the vicinity of the eastern TAF sites. /MJF && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 51 76 54 81 57 83 / 50 30 20 20 20 10 Coeur d'Alene 49 75 51 80 54 81 / 50 40 30 20 20 20 Pullman 47 71 50 77 51 82 / 50 50 30 20 20 10 Lewiston 54 77 55 84 57 88 / 50 50 30 10 10 10 Colville 49 80 50 85 54 83 / 40 30 20 20 30 30 Sandpoint 48 74 49 79 52 80 / 50 50 30 40 40 30 Kellogg 45 72 48 77 50 81 / 50 70 30 40 40 30 Moses Lake 53 82 56 88 58 91 / 30 10 10 10 10 10 Wenatchee 57 83 61 88 64 90 / 40 10 20 10 10 10 Omak 51 83 53 87 56 88 / 40 30 20 10 20 20 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KOTX 640 AM PDT TUE MAY 26 2015 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>037-044-271345- 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-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 640 AM PDT TUE MAY 26 2015 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North Idaho... North Central Idaho...Central Washington...East Central Washington...Northeast Washington and Southeast Washington. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT Low pressure over the region will result in an increasing chance for thunderstorms through the late morning and afternoon. Thunderstorms will be slow moving with heavy rain, small hail and frequent lightning strikes potential threats. The slow moving nature of the thunderstorms will result in an increased potential for isolated flooding impacts of urban and low lying areas. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY Low pressure will begin to pull away from the region on Wednesday. This will result in a decreasing trend for showers and thunderstorms late in the work week. WAZ038-041>043-271345- OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS-WENATCHEE AREA-EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES- OKANOGAN VALLEY- 640 AM PDT TUE MAY 26 2015 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North Central Washington. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A low pressure system will produce isolated to scattered showers with embedded thunderstorms late this morning into the afternoon. Thunderstorms will be slow moving and contain heavy downpours. There is the potential for rainfall intensity to be high enough to produce flash flooding or debris flows, mainly in steep terrain and in the proximity of recent burn scars from the 2013 and 2014 fire seasons. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY Low pressure will begin to pull away from the region on Wednesday, but the atmosphere will remain unstable enough for afternoon thunderstorms to develop over the higher terrain. Slow moving thunderstorms with heavy rainfall will be the primary hazard, but impact potential is expected to be progressively less each day later in the week.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA
528 PM PDT TUE MAY 26 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0450 PM FUNNEL CLOUD 4 S MEDICAL LAKE 47.51N 117.69W
05/26/2015 SPOKANE WA NWS EMPLOYEE
A BRIEF FUNNEL CLOUD ASSOCIATED WITH A THUNDERSTORM WAS
SPOTTED BETWEEN 445 PM AND 450 PM BEFORE DISSIPATING.
&&
JWOLFThe Spokane radar (KOTX), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:46 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A NWS Employee observed a funnel cloud form 4 miles south of Medical Lake, WA. The funnel cloud retracted back into the cloud shortly after and was never observed touching the ground.
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, May 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: 568693.