Wildfire in Washington, August 11 to 13, 2018

Name: Wildfire in Washington, August 11 to 13, 2018
Start: 2018-08-11T13:55
End: 2018-08-13T19:00
Location: Washington

August 11 to 13, 2018 · NWS PDT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The Bofer Canyon fire affected areas along the south edge of the city of Kennewick and grass/brush lands south of Kennewick in Benton county Washington.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.

The Bofer Canyon fire affected areas along the south edge of the city of Kennewick and grass/brush lands south of Kennewick in Benton county Washington.

What forecasters said that day

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 1:30 PM PST, 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 1:30 PM PST, 25 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion...Corrected
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
230 PM PDT Sat Aug 11 2018

Corrected AVIATION discussion

.SHORT TERM...Tonight through Tuesday...An upper trough will
continue to move into the region this evening. This trough will
linger over the region through Monday, though it will gradually
weaken Sunday afternoon through Monday. Other than a few showers
along and just east of the Cascade crest, mainly in Washington,
conditions will remain dry. Also a few stray thunderstorms may occur
near the Cascade crest of Kittitas and Yakima counties this
afternoon and early this evening. Breezy to locally windy conditions
will persist into the evening as well. These winds are causing some
patchy blowing dust over portions of the Columbia Basin, which
should be noticeable until around sunset. The winds will decrease
overnight tonight. Temps will be near seasonal Sunday, but will
begin to warm Monday due to the weakening of the upper trough. The
upper ridge looks to be begin rebuilding on Tuesday. Thus expect
fair and dry conditions, but high temps will warm back to between 7
and 10 degrees above seasonal. 90

.LONG TERM...Tuesday night through Sunday...Models indicate day to
day consistency in transporting mid level monsoon moisture into
central and east central Oregon as well as the mountains of NE
Oregon Wednesday thus introducing a slight chance of afternoon and
evening thunderstorms Wednesday. A low amplitude mid/upper level
shortwave will be arriving on the Oregon coast by late Wednesday
afternoon, which then moves across the interior Pacific Northwest
Wednesday night into Thursday. The GFS model shows elevated
instability by virtue of the mid level monsoon moisture ahead of the
shortwave. The instability will continue overnight into Thursday
morning thus providing the ingredients for a slight chance of
nocturnal thunderstorms  overnight and Thursday morning in the Blue
Mountains, Grant County and Wallowa County. The shortwave exits the
region Thursday afternoon for dry conditions which continue through
the weekend due to high pressure building over the forecast area.
Models suggest an upper level trough into the forecast area on
Sunday. The ECMWF shows the trough with greater amplitude than the
GfS and Canadian models. Am going with dry conditions for Sunday as
the ECMWF trough looks to be unrealistically strong and an outlier
compared with the GFS and Canadian models.  Polan

&&

.AVIATION...00Z TAFs...VFR conditions continue at all TAF sites for
the next 24 hours. Breezy sustained winds of 15-25kt will persist
through this afternoon into this evening at KDLS, KYKM, KPSC, KALW
and KPDT and then diminish beginning around sundown with winds at
TAF sites near mountains becoming drainage around 10kt overnight.
KDLS and KPDT will have gusts to 30-35kt through the remainder of
this afternoon. Winds Sunday, beginning around 18Z, will be 5 to
10kt as a result of weaker pressure gradients.  Polan

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...Will maintain current Red Flag Warnings valid
through 8 PM this evening across the Columbia Basin with breezy to
locally windy conditions and RHs dropping below critical values for
a few hours with deep mixing into drier air aloft. Winds finally
taper off during the day on Sunday with one more day of cooler
temperatures before ridging begins to build back into the region
early next week with a warming and drying trend. Monsoon/remnant
tropical system moisture looks poised to brush southern portions of
the forecast area by the middle of next week with a slight chance of
thunderstorms. Peck

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT  56  85  55  90 /   0   0   0   0
ALW  58  86  57  91 /   0   0   0   0
PSC  57  86  54  93 /   0   0   0   0
YKM  50  86  53  92 /   0   0   0   0
HRI  55  87  52  93 /   0   0   0   0
ELN  54  85  53  92 /   0   0   0   0
RDM  42  85  44  90 /   0   0   0   0
LGD  51  83  49  88 /   0   0   0   0
GCD  48  85  48  90 /   0   0   0   0
DLS  58  88  57  96 /   0   0   0   0

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Red Flag Warning until 8 PM PDT this evening for ORZ641.

WA...Red Flag Warning until 8 PM PDT this evening for WAZ641-675.

&&

90/99/99/74

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Lower Columbia Basin

When: August 11, 1:55 PM PST to August 13, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Lower Columbia Basin forecast zone
Reported by: County Official
Coordinates: 46.220, -119.419 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Bofer Canyon fire started along Interstate 82 and quickly jumped Bofer Canyon Rd due to breezy winds, burning through dry grass and brush. The fire moved into the south edge of Kennewick, affecting the The Heights at Canyon Lakes and the Inspiration Heights subdivisions. Five homes were lost and 4 more suffered heat damage. Also 6 outbuildings were destroyed and two horses were killed. About 361 Benton PUD customers lost power due to the fire damaging or destroying power poles and transformers. The fire also moved towards the Finley area, but was stopped before doing damage. Cause of the fire remains unknown at this time.

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Washington in 2018 Every state in 2018 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, August 2018

Sources

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: 772523.