Slow moving thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall over parts of the East Slopes and North Cascades including parts of the Okanogan Valley. Rainfall reports of over one inch in 40 minutes were picked up by some of the automated equipment near Okanogan, WA.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
Slow moving thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall over parts of the East Slopes and North Cascades including parts of the Okanogan Valley. Rainfall reports of over one inch in 40 minutes were picked up by some of the automated equipment near Okanogan, WA. The resulting heavy rainfall produced some debris flows and Flash floods near Chelan and Okanogan, WA.
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 Jul 19, 3:49 PM PST, 21 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 449 PM PDT Tue Jul 19 2016 .SYNOPSIS... A chance for showers and thunderstorms will linger tonight. The best chances will be over the mountains, with lighter showers or sprinkles possible over the interior basin and into the Palouse. There will be a break in the unsettled weather Wednesday and Thursday, with milder temperatures. A system will bring more showers and thunderstorms Thursday night and Friday. The weekend and early next week look mostly dry, with temperatures warming to near average. && .DISCUSSION... Update: A quick update sent to increase shower and thunderstorm chances across north Central Washington this evening as a short wave tracking through is triggering quite a bit of convection late this afternoon. Also added isolated thunderstorms over North Idaho this evening. See previous discussion below for more details. JW Tonight through Wednesday Night: One wave is moving through now and another will move in overnight. The current wave over our area is producing a thick cloud shield over the area and some sprinkles or light rain showers for the Columbia Basin. Expect these light showers to shift north and east through the late afternoon. Where the cloud shield isn't...over the Cascades, Okanogan Highlands and then down towards the Camas Prairie, they are getting some afternoon cumulus buildup. Isolated showers and thunderstorms are beginning to pop across the central Cascades and expect that to continue and shift northward through the afternoon and early evening hours. Have increased chance of precip during the early evening hours for eastern WA to account for the reflectivities in the Basin. Overnight a wave will move in from the south. The main area of concern is from the Blue Mountains towards Lookout Pass. The NAM models is showing elevated instability through the night. Have kept the mention of showers through this period. By Wednesdaymorning the wave will be moving out of the area and drier air will push in for a mostly sunny day with a very low chance of some afternoon showers along the Cascades. Winds will increase Wednesday afternoon to around 10 mph. Wed night a ridge forms over the area as a trough deepens off the northern CA coast. Temperatures will remain at or below average for this time of the year. /Nisbet Thursday through Tuesday: A shower and thunderstorm threat continues through the end of the work week, before drier weather returns. Thursday a broad trough lingers near the Pacific Coast. This places the Inland NW in a mild southwest flow at 850mb. This supports this being the hottest day of the week, with highs near to slightly above normal. A relatively weak shortwave lifts in ahead of the main trough and interacts with instability to bring a limited threat of showers and thunderstorms near the Cascades and the Blue Mountains. Some may drift north from the Blue Mountains early Thursday evening but these should remain isolated. Late Thursday evening into Friday the main trough and primary shower/t-storm threat comes in. Winds will increase with and behind the main trough. The combination of winds and lightning could be an impact to the fire weather community, especially in the fine fuels. Confidence in what may be considered frequent lightning is low to moderate. Yet all of this will be monitored and those with concerns should also continue to monitor the forecast. First, overnight into Friday morning the trough's core lift passes over southeast WA and the ID Panhandle. A ribbon of moisture rides in with it, with PWATs around 0.75 inches and increasing surface dew points. There is some disagreement on how quickly those dew points rise. Yet toward 5-7 AM Friday most models indicate values in the upper 40s to mid-50s across upper Columbia Basin through the ID Panhandle. As for instability: forecast soundings indicate a low level inversion sets up. Yet there is enough elevated instability for the trough to work with. The elevated CAPE that does exists on forecast soundings appears to be tall and skinny. All of this supports scattered showers but for now mainly isolated thunderstorms. Winds will be on the increase with the passing shortwave with speeds in the 10-15 mph range possible, with higher gusts. Second, Friday the main trough axis crosses the WA/ID border by late morning before heading into MT later in the day. At the same time a dry slot works across the Columbia Basin, especially south of the I-90 corridor. Yet a deformation axis lingers across the northern mountains through the Waterville Plateau. A threat of scattered showers and thunderstorms will continue over the eastern third of WA and north ID in the morning. Yet as that dry slot noses in the primary threat retreats to the northeast WA and ID Panhandle mountains and this risk will wane through early evening. A secondary threat will linger across the north to northeastern rim of the Columbia Basin and near the Blue Mountains and Camas Prairie, but as a whole anything here is forecast to remain isolated by afternoon. Winds will remain in the marginally breezy category and afternoon RH values will be falling. At this time these values are expected to stay above critical thresholds but these will be monitored. Afternoon temperatures are expected to be noticeably cooler on Friday than Thursday, with highs dropping some 4-8 degrees below normal. Friday night through Tuesday the Inland NW transitions to a drier and somewhat more stable zonal flow. Occasional weaker shortwave pass during this time frame. This will largely result in occasional clouds, but for the most part the region looks dry. The only thing which will might change if models come into better agreement is to introduce some shower/t-storm chances toward the northern mountains, as some moisture and instability skims with with some of those shortwaves. Watch for possible low-grade late afternoon and evening breeziness near the Cascade gaps in the onshore flow. After another slightly cooler than average day Saturday, temperatures are expected to warm closer to normal by Sunday and beyond. /J. Cote' && .AVIATION... 00Z TAFS: Scattered showers and thunderstorms will impact some areas this evening...mainly over north Central Washington as well as the Lewiston area, with a few cells also over the north Idaho Panhandle. These storms could produce outflow wind gusts up to 40 mph and brief heavy rain. VFR conditions are expected at all TAF sites...but brief restrictions in visibility can be expected in heavy rain from storms. These storms will weaken after sunset may isolated showers may linger around KPUW/KLWS into the overnight hours. Drier air moving over the region on Wednesday will result in a much quieter day with no thunderstorms expected over the region. JW && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 57 81 56 89 60 78 / 20 10 0 0 30 30 Coeur d'Alene 54 80 53 89 57 77 / 20 10 0 10 30 40 Pullman 50 80 51 89 53 77 / 30 20 0 0 40 20 Lewiston 60 88 60 96 62 85 / 30 10 0 10 20 10 Colville 50 83 50 91 53 82 / 20 10 0 10 20 40 Sandpoint 49 78 48 86 52 74 / 10 10 0 10 30 40 Kellogg 50 78 50 86 53 72 / 30 30 0 10 30 40 Moses Lake 55 85 55 91 60 85 / 0 0 0 0 20 10 Wenatchee 59 84 61 88 63 83 / 10 0 0 10 20 10 Omak 55 85 57 89 61 85 / 10 10 0 0 20 10 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 601 AM PDT TUE JUL 19 2016 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-201315- 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- 601 AM PDT TUE JUL 19 2016 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...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY LOW PRESSURE WILL PUSH INTO THE REGION OFF OF THE EASTERN PACIFIC THURSDAY NIGHT. THE SETUP LOOKS FAVORABLE FOR NOCTURNAL CONVECTION WITH THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES. NEW FIRE STARTS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE LIGHTNING IN AREAS THAT FINE FUELS ARE RECEPTIVE TO CARRY FIRE.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 414 PM PDT TUE JUL 19 2016 WAZ041-042-200000- WENATCHEE AREA WA-EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES WA- 414 PM PDT TUE JUL 19 2016 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTH CENTRAL CHELAN COUNTY UNTIL 500 PM PDT... AT 411 PM PDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR LEAVENWORTH...OR 14 MILES NORTHWEST OF WENATCHEE...MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH. DIME SIZE HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 35 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... CASHMERE...LEAVENWORTH...DRYDEN AND PESHASTIN. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY LEAD TO PONDING OF WATER OR LOCALIZED FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. THIS WILL DIRECTLY IMPACT HIGHWAY 2. PERSONS IN CAMPGROUNDS SHOULD CONSIDER SEEKING STURDY SHELTER UNTIL THIS STORM PASSES. && LAT...LON 4748 12067 4761 12068 4767 12042 4745 12044 TIME...MOT...LOC 2311Z 265DEG 7KT 4754 12059
The Spokane radar (KOTX), 176 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:10 UTC.
2 debris flow, 1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A Newspaper reported multiple slides on McNeil Canyon Road with one shoulder washed out. In addition two cars and a boat slid several feet due to water flood waters coming down a driveway. This all occurred generally 6 miles east of Chelan, WA.
Observations from Pole Pick Mountain, located 4 miles southwest of Loup Loup Campground which is also near Twisp, WA reported just over one inch of rainfall in 40 minutes.
A thunderstorm producing heavy rain caused a debris flow with mud and rocks blocking Highway 97 about 6 miles northeast of Chelan, WA.
The Department of highways relayed a report of flash flooding at highway 20 four miles west of Loup Loup Summit. A debris flow went across the road roughly 6 miles east of Twisp, WA on highway 20.
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, July 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: 638082, 638083, 638084, 638085.