A cold front passage brought wet thunderstorms to East Slopes of the North Cascades. In addition to heavy rainfall a few trees were blown down due to thunderstorm winds.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
A cold front passage brought wet thunderstorms to East Slopes of the North Cascades. In addition to heavy rainfall a few trees were blown down due to thunderstorm winds.
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 21, 3:46 PM PST, 2 hours 39 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 446 PM PDT Thu Jul 21 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Scattered showers and thunderstorms will accompany the passage of a cold front tonight into Friday morning. Brief heavy rain and lightning will be possible late tonight through the early morning hours on Friday. The potential for locally heavy rain will linger into Friday evening over the Idaho Panhandle and northeast Washington. A warm and dry, summer pattern will arrive Sunday and persist well into next week. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight and Friday: After relatively quiet weather for most areas this evening, the Inland NW turns more active, with showers and thunderstorms and breezy conditions. Low pressure off the central Oregon Coast pushes into the Cascades by Friday morning and across the area through Friday afternoon to bring this threat in, as well drop temperatures back below normal. * Evolution: this evening, in advance of the main low, isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms will come first to the Cascades. Some may be locally strong. Some were already starting to develop along the spine of the Cascades south of Snoqualmie Pass between 1 and 2 PM. A secondary area that will be monitored is near the Blues/Camas Prairie/lower Shoshone county where some instability lays. There is no significant trigger here but we will watch for any isolated shower/t-storms. For now just a few CU are expected. Later this evening but more likely overnight (after 1-2 AM or so) into Friday morning the occlusion moves into Cascades and the cold front starts into central WA. With modest lift, deepening moisture and decent elevated instability the threat will be decent for shower/t-storms to increase and expand east. Overnight the largest focus appears to be over the Cascades, west and northwest Columbia Basin through Okanogan Highlands. Elsewhere the risk is for more isolated activity, but this will be monitored and the forecast will be updated if coverage increases quicker. Then going into Friday morning and afternoon the cold front shifts through the central and lower Panhandle, with a dry slot punching across the lower Columbia Basin through the Palouse. At the same time the occluding upper low comes on its heels, migrating from the Cascades around late morning to the northern Panhandle by late afternoon. This will gradually shift the shower and thunderstorm threat to the north and eastern Columbia Basin and the north and eastern mountains. Activity near the Cascades is expected decrease and retreat to the crest. By Friday evening the low and its wrap- around moisture will start to shift east and focus the primary shower/t-storm threat across the north and eastern mountains while activity elsewhere starts to wane. * Thunderstorms and fire weather: we are expecting the thunderstorm threat to be largely near the Cascades this evening, before expanding east overnight and Friday morning, before the focus to shifts toward the north and eastern mountains Friday afternoon/evening. There will be a scattered lightning potential tonight and Friday morning and this may initially start out with lower precip amounts. So the better threat of fire starts will be at the beginning of the event and largely in the finer fuels. Then as moisture deepens, with PWATs nearing an inch in spot, the thinking is the showers will become wetter. Friday afternoon with expanding CAPE there will the potential for more locally abundant lightning from the Okanogan Highlands to the northern Panhandle, but with the expectation of slower-moving storms and a heavy rain potential the threat of started will be cut back, though not eliminated. Winds increase tonight near Cascades toward or after sunset and increase throughout the region into Friday but RH values increase with comparatively cooler temperatures. We will continue to headline it in the fire weather forecast, but no fire weather highlights are anticipated at this time. * Hydrology/flooding: there are some concerns for flash flooding and/or debris flows and slides. The first concern will be for tonight into Friday morning near the Cascades to Okanogan Highlands, especially between 2AM-11AM near the burn scars. While the showers may not contain heavy rains at the immediate start of the event, the atmosphere quickly moistens up and given the strength of the system there will be the potential for some heavy downpours. If they train through the Cascades/Okanogan Highlands this will increase the threat of potential flooding issues. The second concerns is for late Friday morning through Friday evening across the northern counties, again especially near the burn scars. With the atmosphere remaining juicy and unstable, the potential for scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms exists. They also will be slower moving. So the potential for locally heavy precipitation amounts exists. * Winds: this evening the cross-Cascade gradient increases as the low approaches. This will lead to the first increase in winds near the Cascades after about 02-04Z. The wind then starts to increase over the west and lower Columbia Basin overnight into Friday morning. General speeds of 10-15 mph are expected with locally higher gusts. Then winds continue to increase Friday afternoon with the passing front and incoming low. Speeds of 15-20 mph will be common with gusts to 30 possible, especially away the more sheltered northeast valleys. /J. Cote' Saturday: More tranquil weather will arrive this weekend. The trough responsible for Friday's active weather will be well into south central Canada by Saturday morning. A flat high pressure ridge is expected to build off-shore Saturday leaving Washington and north Idaho high and dry. Saturday will be our last day of below average temperatures before warmer conditions arrive Sunday. Sunday and Monday: The oppressive high pressure ridge over the central U.S. will be suppressed Sunday into Monday. As portions of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest experience relief from the ongoing heatwave, the Pacific Northwest will warm above average. Enough of the central U.S. high pressure ridge will retrograde westward early next week to deliver our region a dose of summer weather. Upper 80s to mid 90s will be common max temperatures Sunday and Monday. /GKoch Monday night into Thursday: More typical summer weather is expected for the upcoming week. The high pressure ridge over the central U.S. will retrograde to the west, meanwhile the storm track remains across southern Canada. This will flatten the strength of the ridge and keeps a westerly flow aloft over the region. There is the potential for minor ripples in the flow that will enhance convection near the Canadian border, especially during the afternoon and evening hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. In fact, the models show the Wednesday feature may be a slower mover especially as the ridge aloft amplifies over the eastern Pacific, and allows this shortwave to dig further south over northeast Washington, north Idaho and NW Montana into Thursday with a continued threat of convection. At this time, will indicate the best chance of convection will be in the mountains and near the Canadian border through Thursday evening. Winds will be light and mainly terrain driven. Some Cascade gap winds are possible each late afternoon and evening. It will be warm and dry with daytime temperatures running slightly above normal, in the upper 80s to mid 90s. rfox. && .AVIATION... 00Z TAFS: Aviation area influenced by afternoon and evening surface based showers and thunderstorms and during the overnight and early morning hours by elevated forced convective showers and thunderstorms as a low pressure system moves through the area. As a result the aviation forecast remains peppered with mentions of showers and thunderstorms with the emphasis on the elevated forced convection affecting most TAF sites during the late night and morning hours. Periods of frequent lightning and gusty and variable wind are possible with these thunderstorms. /Pelatti && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 62 77 55 78 56 86 / 20 60 40 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 58 75 53 77 52 85 / 20 60 50 0 0 0 Pullman 55 76 50 77 49 84 / 30 20 10 0 0 0 Lewiston 65 85 58 86 58 91 / 20 20 0 0 0 0 Colville 54 75 51 81 51 89 / 20 80 40 0 0 0 Sandpoint 53 73 50 75 49 82 / 20 60 50 0 0 0 Kellogg 53 72 50 75 49 83 / 20 50 40 0 0 0 Moses Lake 64 84 55 83 56 90 / 40 50 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 67 81 59 83 60 89 / 50 30 0 0 0 0 Omak 64 83 55 85 59 90 / 40 50 10 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...&&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 636 AM PDT THU JUL 21 2016 IDZ002>004-026-027-WAZ031>036-041>044-221345- 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-WENATCHEE AREA-EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES- OKANOGAN VALLEY-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 636 AM PDT THU JUL 21 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 LOW PRESSURE WILL PUSH INTO THE REGION TONIGHT WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE. LIGHTING STRIKES AWAY FROM THE WETTER THUNDERSTORM CORES MAY RESULT IN NEW GRASS FIRE STARTS WHERE FUELS ARE RECEPTIVE TO FIRE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WINDS WILL BECOME BREEZY ON FRIDAY BEHIND A COLD FRONT PASSAGE WITH RAPID SPREAD OF GRASS FIRES POSSIBLE. IDZ001-WAZ037-038-221345- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS- 636 AM PDT THU JUL 21 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON AND NORTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ON FRIDAY. STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...LEADING TO THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING OR SLIDES...ESPECIALLY AROUND BURN SCARS.
The Spokane radar (KOTX), 172 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:24 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A spotter reported a few trees were blown down due to thunderstorm winds. Measured wind gusts of 38 mph were reported. The reported observer location was 8 miles northwest of Okanogan, WA.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
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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: 638326.