The Pickens North Fire, initially reported at 7 miles northeast of Tonasket, WA was a human caused wilfire. It grew to 760 acres.
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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.
The Pickens North Fire, initially reported at 7 miles northeast of Tonasket, WA was a human caused wilfire. It grew to 760 acres.
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 23, 10:03 PM PST, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 1103 PM PDT Tue Aug 23 2016 .SYNOPSIS... The passage of a weak cold front will cause our winds to become northerly Wednesday and Thursday. The change in wind direction will push smoke out of north Idaho and northeast Washington into the Columbia Basin and southern Idaho Panhandle. A strong cold front is expected to bring gusty west winds Saturday and heighten wildfire concerns once again. && .DISCUSSION... As of 11 PM...shower activity over north Idaho and northeast Washington had diminished considerably. Satellite imagery showed a compact vorticity max moving out of the central Idaho Panhandle into western Montana. For the remainder of the night, there may be a small chance of light showers over the high terrain along the Idaho-Montana border. The remainder of the region will experience mainly clear skies and a transition to light north or northeast winds. An increasing northerly surface pressure gradient Wednesday morning will likely cause north winds to channel down the Okanogan Valley between 10 and 20 mph from mid morning through early afternoon. Locally breezy northeast winds 10 to 15 mph will also be possible down the Purcell Trench from Sandpoint to Rathdrum to Coeur d'Alene. The change in wind direction overnight into Wednesday will reduce smoke over the north Idaho Panhandle and much of northeast Washington. Fire activity has generally been on the decrease the last 24 to 36 hours with less smoke entering the "air shed". The smoke that is produced by fires in Spokane, Lincoln, and Stevens counties tomorrow will be pushed southwest into the Columbia Basin. The southern Idaho Panhandle will be the recipient of any smoke from western Montana. /GKoch && .AVIATION... 06Z TAFS: Visibility restrictions due to smoke make the TAFs tricky. At this time, it looks like our TAF sites may not have much visibility reduction. The shift to a north or northeast wind should bring cleaner air to Spokane and Coeur d'Alene. Pullman and Lewiston could have smoke advected in from the Spokane area in the morning and smoke from western Montana by afternoon, but it is unclear how much fire activity will occur during that time frame. With low confidence, we chose to keep the TAFs VFR. /GKoch && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 55 79 56 82 54 83 / 0 10 10 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 52 78 52 81 50 81 / 0 10 10 0 0 0 Pullman 47 80 48 81 46 82 / 0 10 10 0 0 0 Lewiston 55 86 56 88 56 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 50 82 51 84 50 84 / 0 10 10 10 0 10 Sandpoint 50 76 50 78 48 78 / 10 10 10 10 10 10 Kellogg 49 74 49 77 48 77 / 10 10 10 0 10 10 Moses Lake 54 88 56 90 53 89 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 60 86 60 88 59 89 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 58 87 58 88 57 90 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 535 AM PDT TUE AUG 23 2016 IDZ001>004-WAZ032>038-041>044-241245- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-COEUR D'ALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE- CENTRAL PANHANDLE 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- 535 AM PDT TUE AUG 23 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH 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...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY A DRY COLD FRONT PASSAGE SATURDAY OR SUNDAY WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY GUSTY WINDS WITH LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES. CONFIDENCE IN THE TIMING AND STRENGTH IS LOW TO MODERATE. HOWEVER THIS WILL BRING ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS. IDZ026-027-WAZ031-241245- LEWISTON AREA-LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES- NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS- 535 AM PDT TUE AUG 23 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Estimated costs associated with mitigation/suppression of the Pickens North Fire were $280,000.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, August 2016
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: 655860.