The Roosevelt Fire began as a campfire that was left unattended and spread to eventually burned over 61,000 acres in Lincoln and Sublette Counties. The fire was reported by a father and son hunting party on September 15th in the Wyoming Range.
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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 RIW wrote it up.
The Roosevelt Fire began as a campfire that was left unattended and spread to eventually burned over 61,000 acres in Lincoln and Sublette Counties. The fire was reported by a father and son hunting party on September 15th in the Wyoming Range. They attempted to escape but were forced to jump into a creek. They suffered burns and had to be airlifted to a burn unit in Salt Lake City. Fueled by warm temperatures, gusty to strong winds and low humidity, the fire than progressed eastward and prompted evacuations of residential areas northwest of Pinedale. The worst damage was at the Hoback Ranch subdivision where 55 of the 150 homes were destroyed. The fire also prompted the closure of US 189 / 191 three times due to firefighting efforts. At the fire's peak, 1175 personal were on scene. One fire fighter also injuries while fighting the fire. The total cost of fighting the fire was over $23 million dollars. The fire continued into October. Please see October for the conclusion of 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 Riverton, WY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 15, 1:05 AM MST, 6 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Riverton WY 205 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 .SHORT TERM...Today through Monday night Issued at 133 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 Red flag conditions are ongoing across the south half of the CWA. Today winds will increase as a stronger shortwave approaches the area. The RH will remain critical, although will increase slightly in the western zones. The wind will not get as strong as what occurred last Wednesday because a surface low is progged to develop across Central wyoming, thus loosening the gradient from what otherwise might be expected. Will keep the ongoing red flag warning for Central and Southern Wyoming going through 7 pm Saturday. The actual trough passage will take place around 06Z Sunday morning at which time a few light showers will likely fall in Northwest Wyoming. Then, on Sunday behind the trough, the flow will remain tight with west-southwest winds continuing along with borderline RH, thus resulting in borderline red flag conditions on Sunday. Saturday will be the hottest day of this week when temps approach 90 in the Central Basins Saturday before cooling off a couple of degrees Sunday. The main trough itself will shear out across the Canadian border. Just ahead of this trough, we could see a few isolated showers and thunderstorms in our southeast zones Sunday evening where lower lifted indices are progged. Behind the sheared trough on Monday, areas in Northern Wyoming will cool off around 8 degrees, and in Central Wyoming, around 5 degrees. In Southern wyoming where the effects of the shortwave to the north will be negligible, temps will only cool off a degree or two. The gradient will remain rather stiff from the west southwest even on Monday. Southern Wyoming could very well be dealing with borderline near critical fire weather conditions for another day on Monday with low RH and gusty winds. .LONG TERM...Tuesday through Saturday Issued at 133 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 Upper air pattern on Tuesday morning to feature trough extending down the west coast with broad ridging downstream from the central/southern Rockies into the eastern U.S. At the surface, Canadian high pressure will be building into the northern Plains. Most of the area will be dry and unseasonably mild again on Tuesday with some gusty southwest wind across the south and central creating elevated fire weather conditions. Return SE flow from the high plains will bring some higher CAPES across eastern Wyoming, possibly into eastern Johnson and Natrona counties where a few thunderstorms could initiate Tuesday afternoon and evening. Upper trough is expected to push across the Intermountain West Wednesday and across the Continental Divide Wednesday night; per GFS which has displayed more consistent timing than ECMWF over the last few runs. A surface front is expected to be near a Cody- Casper line Wednesday afternoon with a dry and warm southwest flow south of the front, cooler with chances of showers and thunderstorms north of the front. This front is then expected to drop further south to near Interstate 80 Wednesday night with more widespread rain showers and higher elevation snow (snow levels 8000-9000 feet) possibly developing Wednesday night into Thursday morning along and north of the front. A drier and cooler westerly flow will push the frontal boundary and associated precipitation slowly north and east on Thursday. Model solutions diverge significantly on days 6 and 7 with GFS swinging another trough through Friday night while EC develops stronger ridging over the east central Pacific, positively tilted trough downstream off the west coast, and the resumption of SW flow across Wyoming. GEFS mean is a good compromise here showing ridge/trough pattern over the eastern Pacific and flatter zonal flow across the western and central U.S. Forecast keep temperatures close to seasonal normals and mainly dry conditions across the area Friday and Saturday. && .AVIATION...For the 12Z TAFS through 12Z Sunday morning Issued at 133 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 VFR conditions are still expected through the TAF period with a few high level clouds expected in the initial part of the forecast mainly west of the Continental Divide and across northern Wyoming. Will continue with ongoing forecast of increasing south to southwest winds between 18Z-20Z at most TAF sites. Winds should finally lessen at most locations after 06Z Sunday. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued AT 133 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 ...RED FLAG WARNING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL WYOMING INTO PARTS OF CENTRAL WYOMING THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING... Continued red flag conditions are expected from Southwest and West Central Wyoming and into parts of Central Wyoming today and elevated to critical fire weather Sunday. Winds and RH's will remain below critical thresholds in the northwest today. Min RH's in the red flag areas will be in the high single digits to lower teens with stronger southwest winds this afternoon. On Sunday min RH's rise into the mid teens but gusty southwest winds will likely continue the threat of critical fire weather. && .RIW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 7 PM MDT this evening for WYZ277>281-283- 285-288-289-300-414-416. && SHORT TERM...Hulme LONG TERM...Meunier AVIATION...Troutman FIRE WEATHER...Hulme
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Riverton WY 214 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 WYZ001>020-022>030-161100- Yellowstone National Park-Absaroka Mountains-Cody Foothills- North Big Horn Basin-Southwest Big Horn Basin- Southeast Big Horn Basin-Owl Creek and Bridger Mountains- Bighorn Mountains West-Bighorn Mountains Southeast- Northeast Johnson County-Southeast Johnson County- Teton and Gros Ventre Mountains-Jackson Hole- Wind River Mountains West-Wind River Mountains East- Upper Wind River Basin-Wind River Basin-Lander Foothills- Green Mountains and Rattlesnake Range- Natrona County Lower Elevations-Casper Mountain-Star Valley- Salt River and Wyoming Ranges-Upper Green River Basin Foothills- Upper Green River Basin-South Lincoln County- Rock Springs and Green River-Flaming Gorge-East Sweetwater County- 214 AM MDT Sat Sep 15 2018 ...Red Flag Warning for much of Southern and Central Wyoming this Afternoon and Early Evening... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for Western and Central Wyoming. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Critical fire weather for portions of Southern into Central Wyoming. Please see Red Flag Warning for details. Elevated fire behavior likely for portions of western Wyoming. Please see Fire Weather Highlights for details. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday Sunday through Tuesday...Warm and dry weather with gusty wind will continue to bring elevated to critical fire weather conditions at times over the central and southern areas. Wednesday and Thursday...A chance of thunderstorms across north central Wyoming Wednesday afternoon and evening. Several inches of snow possible along and east of the Continental Divide above 9000 feet Wednesday night and Thursday morning. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed today and tonight.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Wyoming in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Wyoming, September 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: 785533, 785534.