A cluster of slow moving and very wet thunderstorms moved through Eastern Washington. The thunderstorms that occurred in the afternoon and evening had enough strength and rainfall intensity to down some trees and produce some localized flooding in the Winthrop, Washington area.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
A cluster of slow moving and very wet thunderstorms moved through Eastern Washington. The thunderstorms that occurred in the afternoon and evening had enough strength and rainfall intensity to down some trees and produce some localized flooding in the Winthrop, Washington area.
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 26, 1:47 PM PST, 2 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 247 PM PDT Tue Jul 26 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Thunderstorms will develop over northern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle today and again on Wednesday. Locally heavy rain and cloud to ground lightning will be likely with these storms. Dry and hot weather is expected Thursday and Friday. A cold front is expected to arrive this weekend bringing breezy conditions and cooler weather for the start of next week. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight: Thunderstorms will keep us busy this evening. Our atmosphere is quite moist and unstable for this time of year. Surface dewpoints in the upper 40s to mid 50s are common throughout the Inland Northwest this afternoon. The moisture is more than just "skin deep" with decent humidity extending to 700mb and precipitable water values around an inch. Cooler air aloft along the Canadian border is contributing to surface based CAPE values in excess of 1000 J/KG over the mountains along the Canadian border. Afternoon heating over the high terrain has caused scattered storms over the northern Cascades into the Okanogan Valley. Hail may occur with some of the strongest cells through early evening, but excessive rain will be the biggest concern. Storm steering flow is weak, and as of 2 PM cells northwest of Omak have exhibited the tendency to be anchored to the terrain, moving very little. Through mid evening we will be watching storms closely. At this time, we expect the greatest thunderstorm coverage to be close to the Canadian border, north of the burn scars of Okanogan, Chelan, and Stevens counties. However, it is not out of the question that a rouge cell could cause burn scar issues this evening. Precipitation chances through the night have been increased along and north of Highway 2. Last night, we had scattered convection continue overnight into the morning. The GFS and NAM suggest that we will once again have steep mid level lapse rates and sufficient mid-level moisture for a chance of late night and early morning showers and thunderstorms over our counties bordering Canada. Wednesday: It will be another warm day with highs in the upper 80s to mid 90s. We will continue to have a good supply of low level moisture with dewpoints in the upper 40s and low 50s. The GFS and NAM suggest that our mid-levels will warm a bit with 500mb temperatures rising to -9c to -11c compared to the -12c to -13c we have today. We should have fewer afternoon thunderstorms tomorrow, but those that do form over the high terrain along the Canadian border will once again be slow moving and capable of heavy rain. /GKoch Thursday and Friday: A weak ridge pattern will be in place over the region. This will be keep a mostly cloud free warming trend for the period. The main concern with the region will be the high temperatures expected. Moses Lake, Ephrata, and Lewiston areas could see triple digit temperatures. The rest of the Columbia Basin can expect temperatures in the 90s. The overnight Lows will be in the 60s to low 70s range. /JDC Saturday through Tuesday: Upper level trough will approach the Pac NW from the north on Saturday. There are still some big differences btwn the GFS and ECMWF. The EC now keeps the low further north into Canada and brings a stronger trough through Sunday night/Monday. The GFS pushes the front through Sat night/early sunday with another trough for Monday night/Tuesday. Needless to say am not very confident in the extended forecast until the models can start to show some agreement. Saturday still looks to be slightly cooler than Friday, but still above normal temperatures with valley temps generally in the 90s. Winds will pick up Saturday morning and will continue through Monday morning with the gustiest winds occurring late Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening. The strongest winds will be across the Cascade gaps into the Columbia Basin, Palouse and Spokane area as well as down the Okanogan Valley. These winds combined with daytime relative humidities in the upper teens to lower 20s will make for potentially dangerous fire weather conditions both Saturday and Sunday. The dry cold front will push through Saturday night/Sunday and bring about 8-10 degrees of cooling on Sunday. These cooler temperatures (valleys in the 80s, or about 3-6 degrees below average) will continue Monday and Tuesday as well. For now have kept Tuesday a dry forecast until models can better agree on a possible trough passage. /Nisbet && .AVIATION... 18Z TAFS: High based showers and thunderstorms in the vicinity of the Spokane metro are expected to drift to the northeast in the 19-21z time frame. Additional showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop over the high terrain of northern Washington and north Idaho around 20z. This convection will likely be deeper and stronger capable of producing locally heavy rain, small hail, and frequent cloud to ground lightning. Airports that may be impacted by these afternoon and evening thunderstorms are Omak, Republic, Methow, Colville, Priest Lake, Bonners Ferry, and others near the Canadian border. /GKoch && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 64 90 65 92 67 94 / 20 10 10 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 61 90 60 91 63 93 / 20 10 10 0 0 0 Pullman 55 90 54 92 57 93 / 10 0 10 0 0 0 Lewiston 67 98 68 99 69 100 / 10 0 10 0 0 0 Colville 58 90 57 94 59 95 / 30 20 20 0 0 0 Sandpoint 56 86 54 88 56 89 / 30 20 20 0 0 0 Kellogg 56 88 55 88 57 90 / 20 10 10 0 0 0 Moses Lake 64 97 65 98 65 100 / 10 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 69 96 69 98 70 98 / 10 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 67 95 67 97 68 99 / 30 10 10 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 500 AM PDT TUE JUL 26 2016 IDZ001-WAZ037-038-042-271200- NORTHERN PANHANDLE-NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS-OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS- EAST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES- 500 AM PDT TUE JUL 26 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... NORTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON AND NORTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AND CASCADES TODAY. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME STRONG PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...AND SMALL HAIL. THE HEAVIER RAIN MAY PRODUCE LOCALIZED AND ISOLATED FLOODING OR SLIDES AND DEBRIS FLOW...ESPECIALLY IN STEEPER TERRAIN AND BURN SCARS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AND CASCADES WEDNESDAY. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME STRONG PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...AND SMALL HAIL. IDZ002-003-026-WAZ032>036-041-043-044-271200- COEUR D'ALENE AREA-IDAHO PALOUSE-LEWISTON AREA- LOWER GARFIELD AND ASOTIN COUNTIES-WASHINGTON PALOUSE- MOSES LAKE AREA-UPPER COLUMBIA BASIN-SPOKANE AREA-WENATCHEE AREA- OKANOGAN VALLEY-WATERVILLE PLATEAU- 500 AM PDT TUE JUL 26 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 A WARM AND DRIER WEATHER PATTERN WILL DEVELOP FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WORK WEEK FOLLOWED BY A DRY COLD FRONT PASSAGE OVER THE WEEKEND. BREEZY WINDS WITH LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL BE POSSIBLE. IDZ004-027-WAZ031-271200- CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS-LEWIS AND SOUTHERN NEZ PERCE COUNTIES- NORTHEAST BLUE MOUNTAINS- 500 AM PDT TUE JUL 26 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH IDAHO... 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.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA 354 PM PDT TUE JUL 26 2016 WAZ037-262315- NORTHEAST MOUNTAINS WA- 354 PM PDT TUE JUL 26 2016 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHEASTERN STEVENS AND NORTHWESTERN PEND OREILLE COUNTIES UNTIL 415 PM PDT... AT 350 PM PDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES SOUTH OF NORTHPORT. THIS STORM DRIFTING TO THE EAST AROUND 10 MPH AND WILL PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL. NICKEL SIZE HAIL WILL BE POSSIBLE...AND RAIN AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF AN INCH WILL FALL VERY QUICKLY UNDER THE CORE OF THIS STORM. THIS STORM WILL LIKELY TRACK SOUTH OF NORTHPORT TOWARD WILDERNESS AREAS EAST OF IONE AND METALINE FALLS. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. && LAT...LON 4870 11772 4891 11776 4899 11745 4872 11744 TIME...MOT...LOC 2250Z 241DEG 4KT 4877 11761 GKOCH
The Seattle radar (KATX), 178 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:18 UTC.
3 flood, 1 debris flow, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Forest Service reported that heavy rain from thunderstorms resulted in a road washout on Ramsey Creek Road. A one mile stretch was blocked with mud and debris. The time of the event was estimated.
An emergency manager reported that a thunderstorm brought down trees and powerlines between Addy and Chewelah, WA.
A member of law enforcement reported heavy rainfall from a thunderstorm resulted in water over the road at highway 20 in Winthrop, WA.
A member of law enforcement reported heavy rainfall from a thunderstorm resulted in water over Bear Creek Road about 2 miles northeast of Winthrop, WA.
A member of law enforcement reported heavy rainfall from a passing thunderstorm resulted in a minor debris flow of rocks and water over Elbow Coulee Road which is about 5 miles south southwest of Winthrop, WA.
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: 639479, 639280, 639281, 639282, 639283.