Lightning began a fire at around 7:30 AM on August 13th 1 mile north of the Chesterfield Reservoir on the Fort Hall Reservation . The fire burned grass and brush in steep terrain and burned 2,380 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 PIH wrote it up.
Lightning began a fire at around 7:30 AM on August 13th 1 mile north of the Chesterfield Reservoir on the Fort Hall Reservation . The fire burned grass and brush in steep terrain and burned 2,380 acres . It was contained by 7 pm on August 16th. It was in open land.
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 Pocatello, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 1:04 AM MST, 5 hours 26 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 204 AM MDT Mon Aug 13 2018 .DISCUSSION...Our forecast area is split from the SW to NE with mostly clear skies in the NW and mostly cloudy skies in the SE. General partly cloudy/mostly sunny skies are anticipated across SE ID for the day. Moisture is expected to be on a slight increasing trend by tomorrow morning while temperatures are also forecast to be slightly cooler. Isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms are possible South of I-86 but no real accumulating rainfall expected. High pressure strengthens its grip over SE ID tomorrow, increasing temperatures ever so slightly and generally removing any traces of moisture. A shortwave trough becomes evident in forecast models for Wednesday; indicating the next opportunity for precipitation. This is a better chance for rain, and maybe even accumulating rainfall in areas, with thunderstorms through Thursday. The NAM model is not favoring much of this activity through the Snake River Plain, and may be dry in these areas if we believe this model verbatim. There are some timing differences between the other forecast models but for the most part, they all indicate an opportunity for rain showers at some point during the Wed to Thu time period. Friday's forecast becomes rather messy in advance of our next cold front. Our GFS model brings abundant amounts of moisture into the closed low associated with the front while the European model is a little less reserved. Quite the norm but none- the-less will note this difference for later in the week and into the weekend. Anticipate a windy few days ahead of and behind the frontal passage as well. NP/JK && .AVIATION...VFR weather persists, although mid moisture will continue to produce some cloud cover at times. We could see a few "showers" or storms over the highlands. Showers is actually stretching it as we are expecting just virga (maybe sprinkles) with gusty winds, if we don't get any lightning. The potential for any particular terminal even seeing VCSH/VCTS is pretty low, although the odds at KBYI, KPIH and KIDA are ever so slightly higher. Keyes && .FIRE WEATHER...Some mid level moisture will continue to creep north today and tomorrow. At the same time, low level moisture remains quite dry. That means anything that develops in terms of convection will be mostly virga and gusty winds of 35 mph or higher. We aren't expecting anything above isolated thunder coverage, but right now minimal strikes will cause problems due to the very dry conditions. Wind gusts outside of any convection will be lighter than yesterday, but some ridgetop could reach 15-25mph...and 20-30mph across Craters of the Moon and the Arco Desert/INL area. A similar pattern for overall wind is likely tomorrow but just a tad bit lighter. Monsoon moisture really begins to increase Wednesday and continues into at least Friday. The potential for wetting rains increases, but don't be surprised if we see a mix of wet and dry showers/storms especially Wednesday. This pattern is also not the easiest in trying to determine lightning coverage for critical conditions too far in advance. Moisture and cloud cover in the overnight hours can easily give us isolated thunderstorms at night. It also can limit thunderstorm potential during the day. Expect at least a general forecast of showers with isolated thunderstorms for now. Any Red Flags for scattered thunderstorms and gusty winds may likely come with less lead time than we like to give fire crews. Keyes && .AIR STAGNATION...Smoke will remain in our forecast into the near future resulting from both nearby and wildfire influence from the west and southwest. Interesting enough, smoke from wildfires from Canada and/or northern Montana are progged to push southward according to the HRRR smoke model. This solution alone did not make us update our grids in any way, as this solution would require some fairly decent northerly upper level winds which are not exactly forecast. NP/JK && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning began a fire at around 7:30 AM on August 13th 1 mile north of the Chesterfield Reservoir on the Fort Hall Reservation . The fire burned grass and brush in steep terrain and burned 2,380 acres . It was contained by 7 pm on August 16th. It was in open land.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2018
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: 779627.