Heavy rain and snow melt during the month of March caused the Spokane River to crest above Flood Stage in March. The river slowly receded but remained above Flood Stage through the first few days of April.
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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.
Heavy rain and snow melt during the month of March caused the Spokane River to crest above Flood Stage in March. The river slowly receded but remained above Flood Stage through the first few days of April. Inundation was mostly limited to park land and fields in the river bottom but a few homes and businesses experienced basement and yard flooding during this event.
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 Mar 31, 9:37 PM PST, 2 hours 23 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 1037 PM PDT Fri Mar 31 2017 .SYNOPSIS... A pair of upper level disturbances will produce breezy winds and scattered light showers Saturday and Sunday. Drier weather will return by Monday night and last through the middle of next week. A possibility of more significant rain returns late in the week. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Monday...The weekend is shaping up to be a more normal spring time weather period than the wet and stormy pattern which has prevailed over the region for the last few weeks. The current upper level ridge which has graced the region with benign sunshine today will break down tonight and Saturday into a more zonal and moist...but not too moist...flow pattern. Satellite indicates the next fetch of Pacific moisture directed into Vancouver Isle this afternoon. This feed will become oriented west to east into the forecast area on Saturday...but it will be a quick and short lived period of direct hosing...and the air mass will probably not moisten sufficiently to allow widespread precipitation outside of the mountains as an attendant short wave and mid level front transits the region and pushes the feed to the south by tomorrow afternoon. Still...there will likely be widespread showers over the mountains north and east of the basin but rainfall amounts will be generally light with only a few hundredths of an inch...while the Columbia basin will likely remain dry but with plenty of thick mid level clouds and maybe a sprinkle over the rising terrain of the eastern basin. On Sunday and again on Monday the forecast area will reside on the cool side of the polar storm track...with models suggesting a pair of short wave disturbances riding the increasingly northwest flow. These waves will inject some cold air aloft promoting afternoon and evening instability mainly over the eastern half of the forecast area with a chance of hit-and-miss rain showers and mountain snow showers with a chance of grauple and ice pellets under the cores of any showers. Breezy conditions are also likely as drier low level air pushes across the Cascades and into the basin on Saturday and Sunday and becomes more northerly on Monday. Temperatures for the next few days look to be a bit below normal with morning low temperatures...especially on Monday...dropping down below freezing at many locations. daytime highs over the populated lower elevations will crest in the lower to mid 50s. The lack of any significant rainfall will help the hydrology situation. Mainstem rivers currently flooding will continue to fall and the areal flooding around the region will also slowly improve over the next few days. The residual Areal Flood Warning for the Colville area will be dropped with the afternoon package but with the understanding that existing small stream and field flood problems may continue for a while longer. The warnings and watches will be reserved for the next time significant precipitation is expected to aggravate or create new problems. /Fugazzi Tuesday and Wednesday: Models are in good agreement for a high pressure ridge to build in over the region. This will result in sunny, dry weather and temperatures warming above average by Wednesday. High temperatures for that Wednesday afternoon are expected to be in the 60s. Wednesday night through Friday: Higher pressure will begin to break down Wednesday night. The first disturbance to move through will act as a sacrificial lamb of sorts. Clouds will increase through Thursday with light showers possible. Better chances for precip will come later in the week as models show good agreement with an upper level low pressure system setting up off of the BC coast. This will tap into a better fetch of Pacific moisture with more appreciable precip accumulations possible. The moisture plume does not appear to be abnormally moist, but we are also a week out so it is tough to put too much faith in the models at this point. /SVH && .AVIATION... 06Z TAFS: A flat ridge of high pressure anchored over the region will result in dry conditions and light winds through 10z Sat. Patchy shallow fog will be possible in the valleys of NE WA and N ID but threat is too low to include in any tafs. A disturbance overtopping the ridge will usher in the next surge of moisture and result in a subtle top down moistening. Cigs are expected to remain VFR with light showers in the mountains and occasional sprinkles 16-21z before a cold front presses through late aftn leading to clearing from west to east and slight increase in southwest winds. /sb && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 38 57 36 52 30 51 / 0 10 0 30 20 10 Coeur d'Alene 36 54 37 50 30 50 / 0 20 10 40 20 20 Pullman 37 55 37 49 31 48 / 0 20 10 20 20 20 Lewiston 39 59 40 55 34 54 / 0 10 10 10 10 20 Colville 35 55 35 53 30 53 / 0 70 0 30 20 10 Sandpoint 34 51 34 50 29 50 / 0 60 20 50 20 20 Kellogg 35 50 35 45 30 45 / 0 20 30 50 30 30 Moses Lake 38 63 38 59 33 59 / 0 0 0 0 10 10 Wenatchee 38 59 38 56 34 57 / 0 10 0 0 10 10 Omak 37 60 34 56 30 57 / 0 10 0 10 10 10 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Spokane WA 541 AM PDT Fri Mar 31 2017 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-011400- 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- 541 AM PDT Fri Mar 31 2017 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...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY No hazardous weather is expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The USGS Spokane River Gage at Spokane recorded the Spokane River continuing to achieve Minor Flood level through the first few days of April. The river receded to below the Flood Stage of 27.0 feet at 5:15 PM PST on April 3rd.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, April 2017
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: 692105.