This lightning caused complex of wildfires burned 65,587 acres and cost over $34 million dollars to suppress.
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.
This lightning caused complex of wildfires burned 65,587 acres and cost over $34 million dollars to suppress.
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 Aug 31, 9:29 PM PST, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 1029 PM PDT MON AUG 31 2015 .SYNOPSIS... Light rain in the northern mountains will slowly creep north tonight. Tuesday will feature dry and breezy conditions. A weak cold front brings a reinforcing shot of cooler air Wednesday along with a chance for showers and gusty winds. A cooler and showery weather pattern will linger over the region late week and into the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... Light rain has ended across the northern mountains this evening and radar mosaic is showing lighter returns along the Cascade crest. Water vapor satellite imagery shows a weak impulse tracking across the region and there is enough resident moisture to wring out a few light showers across the northern mountains overnight but probably not more than a few hundredths of an inch will fall. Winds in the more sheltered valleys have quieted down tonight but the ridgetops and exposed areas like the Waterville Plateau remain a bit breezy. I have not seen any reduction in visibility in smoke from area wildfires but smoke models continue to bring some into the northernmost valleys and also into the Lewis-Clark Valley overnight. The Lewiston area is vulnerable from fires to the southwest in NE oregon and also from the southeast from Central Idaho wildfires. This is the only TAF site that shows enough confidence to place a visibility restriction in the aviation forecast. All in all, a rather quiet night weatherwise. /Kelch && .AVIATION... 06Z TAFS: Areas of light rain will continue across the Cascade crest and far northern WA tonight but will not impact any TAF site. Smoke models still bring some smoke from near Pomeroy toward the KLWS corridor and if this is the case, nocturnal inversions could result in some reductions of VIS until morning. Confidence is low due to uncertainty with burning behavior of the NE Oregon wildfire. KLWS is also vulnerable to smoke from the southeast where fires are burning in central ID. Some smoke is expected to settle into the valleys of northern WA and northern panhandle of Idaho. Breezy early evening winds will diminish overnight but will become breezy again Tuesday afternoon. /EK && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 50 75 52 68 44 66 / 10 10 20 10 10 20 Coeur d'Alene 50 74 52 67 43 65 / 10 10 20 20 10 20 Pullman 47 76 50 68 42 66 / 10 0 20 30 10 20 Lewiston 55 83 58 73 49 71 / 0 0 10 20 10 20 Colville 49 74 50 70 40 68 / 20 10 20 30 10 30 Sandpoint 46 72 48 66 40 64 / 20 10 20 20 10 30 Kellogg 46 73 49 65 41 63 / 10 0 20 40 20 20 Moses Lake 53 77 53 73 47 71 / 10 10 10 10 10 10 Wenatchee 54 75 56 71 50 70 / 10 10 10 10 10 10 Omak 48 75 49 72 43 69 / 10 20 20 20 10 20 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 305 AM PDT MON AUG 31 2015 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-011015- 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- 305 AM PDT MON AUG 31 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...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY A cold front will move through the area on Wednesday and bring gusty winds for the afternoon. Afternoon thunderstorms will also be possible across the northern mountains of Washington on Wednesday.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
This lightning caused complex of wildfires burned 65,587 acres and cost over $34 million dollars to suppress.
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, 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: 602336.