Wildfire in Washington, July 19 to 24, 2018

Name: Wildfire in Washington, July 19 to 24, 2018
Start: 2018-07-19T11:00
End: 2018-07-24T06:00
Location: Washington

July 19 to 24, 2018 · NWS PDT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The Boylston Fire burned over portions of eastern and southeastern Kittitas county in 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 Boylston Fire burned over portions of eastern and southeastern Kittitas county in 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 Jul 19, 9:12 AM PST, 1 hour 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 19, 9:12 AM PST, 1 hour 48 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
1012 AM PDT Thu Jul 19 2018

Updated Aviation Discussion

.SHORT TERM...Morning Update...Westerly flow at the surface and
aloft will continue across the Pacific Northwest through at least
tonight. This flow is rather dry, though there has been some
increase in surface moisture due to a deeper marine layer west of
the Cascades. Overall expect sunny conditions with locally breezy
winds today. Smoke from wildfires in north-central Oregon will
gradually increase again across areas to the east of these fires.
Thus will continue to mention some amount of smoke over northeast
Oregon. Overall the forecast package is on track. Updates consisted
of a few adjustments to sky cover, smoke coverage and high temps. 90

.LONG TERM...Previous Discussion...With a low pressure system to the
north and a high pressure system to the south...our area will be in
between both systems but dry conditions are expected through the
weekend. As the low pressure moves away...the dry high pressure will
build further into or/wa and even warmer temps are likely for next
week.

&&

.AVIATION...18Z TAFs...VFR conditions are expected for the next 24
hours across all taf sites. However smoke from surrounding fires
could reduce vsby at times throughout the period especially at taf
sites kpdt...kalw...and possibly kdls. 76

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...The onshore flow has deepened the marine layer; 12Z
SLE shows the marine layer has deepened to around 4800 ft AGL. This
is good news for the Substation Fire that has received significantly
higher humidity compared to yesterday. KDLS currently at 65 pct RH.
The Kittitas Valley is also observing humidity values around 60-65
pct. Unfortunately, it is windy through these areas this morning and
sustained winds of 20-30 mph will continue through the afternoon and
early evening. Model guidance are all indicating the RH values
dropping to around 20 pct for the Eastern Columbia River Gorge. Red
Flag Warnings are in effect for south central WA and central and
north central OR. The marine push will cause winds to increase for
the remainder of the area as the day progresses with locally breezy
winds and RH around 12-20 pct. Friday and Saturday should be locally
breezy. I am not anticipating the extension of the Red Flag Warnings
at this time.  Wister

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT  92  55  87  55 /   0   0   0   0
ALW  94  57  90  56 /   0   0   0   0
PSC  96  57  91  56 /   0   0   0   0
YKM  92  55  86  56 /   0   0   0   0
HRI  96  57  91  56 /   0   0   0   0
ELN  86  55  83  54 /   0   0   0   0
RDM  91  47  88  47 /   0   0   0   0
LGD  90  50  86  49 /   0   0   0   0
GCD  90  53  88  52 /   0   0   0   0
DLS  86  58  88  58 /   0   0   0   0

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for ORZ639>641.

WA...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for WAZ639-641-675.

&&

90/97/76/85

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, Kittitas Valley

When: July 19, 11:00 AM PST to July 24, 6:00 AM PST
Where: Kittitas Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Newspaper
Coordinates: 46.791, -120.709 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Boylston Fire near Kittitas burned 71,200 acres and was 80 percent contained by July 23rd. The fire started on Thursday the 19th in the median of I-90 east of the town of Kittitas. The fire spread east to the Columbia river and south into lands belonging to the Army's Yakima Training Center. The fire destroyed one residence and three other minor structures. As of the 23rd, Huntinger Road in Vantage is closed, while I-90 Westbound has reopened after being closed intermittently since Thursday. A single eastbound lane is now open and the Department of Transportation says traffic is being piloted through the area.

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, July 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: 763965.