The Beachie Creek wildfire started in the hot dry days of mid August 2020 in a remote part of the North Oregon Cascades in Marion county. The fire continued to burn through the month but remained in the remote location until September.
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 PQR wrote it up.
The Beachie Creek wildfire started in the hot dry days of mid August 2020 in a remote part of the North Oregon Cascades in Marion county. The fire continued to burn through the month but remained in the remote location until September. This episode is incorporated in the September 2020 Wildfires episode.
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 Portland, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 8:40 AM PST, 2 hours 20 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service Portland OR
940 AM PDT Sun Aug 16 2020
Updated Aviation discussion
SYNOPSIS...Strong high pressure over the western US will maintain a
hot air mass over the Pacific Northwest today. A southerly flow
aloft will bring a chance of thunderstorms today and tonight, mainly
to the Cascades during the afternoon and evening. Temperatures will
slowly cool down closer to normal this week as the high pressure
weakens, and there is a chance for showers to return to the
northwest part of the area late in the week as a trough of low
pressure aloft over the east Pacific nudges closer to the coast.
&&
.SHORT TERM...Today through Tuesday...A very warm air mass remains
over most of the forecast area early this morning as a ridge of high
pressure aloft extends north from the Great Basin through the
Columbia Basin. With the ridge axis off to the east today, southerly
flow aloft will bring mid and upper level instability north over the
region. Models suggest the potential for shortwaves to lift north
over the region today and tonight as well, but are not consistently
handled by models. The most notable one seen in satellite imagery is
off the central California coast early this morning, which
potentially could act as a trigger over the forecast area late today
and tonight. Convective allowing models and the National Blend
tending to favor the Cascade crest and areas east in depicting
thunderstorms today and tonight, but model soundings show mid level
instability extending further west, so prefer to include a slight
chance of thunderstorms west into the Willamette Valley tonight.
Model 850 mb temperatures expected to be little changed today
compared to Saturday, suggesting many low level areas inland still
potentially making a run for 100F today. Southerly flow spreading up
the coast gets a boost late today and tonight as a surface ridge of
high pressure presses north. This also strengthens onshore gradients
through the Coast Range late today, but it may be too late in the
day to have an appreciable effect on high temperatures today in the
Willamette Valley. Southerly flow aloft today also brings the
potential for smoke and haze to spread up from fires over southwest
Oregon as seen in HRRR smoke modeling, so will keep a mention of
haze today for much of the area.
While there has been a dearth of marine clouds along the Oregon
coast overnight, meso models indicate a moist marine layer spreading
clouds up the coast tonight, and potentially spreading marine clouds
through some of the Coast Range gaps by Monday morning. The marine
air will bring some relief from the heat to inland areas, but it
will still be a slow cool down for Monday and into Tuesday as upper
heights are slow to fall in the southwest flow aloft. Model 850 mb
temperatures are still expected to be around 20C over the Willamette
Valley Monday afternoon which should be good for lower 90s, and then
down another degree or two Tuesday. Will keep a slight chance for
thunderstorms over the southern part of the Cascades late Monday as
the flow aloft veers around to the south-southwest, and the unstable
air mass extending from southwest to eastern Oregon clips the Lane
County Cascades.
.LONG TERM...Tuesday night through Saturday...High pressure aloft
is generally forecast by models to remain entrenched over the Great
Basin through the week as a trough of low pressure over the east
Pacific nudges closer to the coast. A modest onshore low level flow
coupled with a slow lowering of heights aloft will generally allow
temperatures to drop back closer to normals through the course of
the week. By Thursday to Friday models including the National Blend
suggest increasing chances for showers, particularly with a weak
front expected Friday. As the operational models continue to show a
general reluctance to drop 500 mb heights much under 580 dm, will
include low pops for showers mainly over the northwest part of the
forecast area, but will scale back pops some from the National Blend
values.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...A thermally induced trough of low pressure early
Sunday morning extended from near the mouth of the Columbia river
south through the Central Coast Range of Oregon. This trough will
shift further inland today, and east of the Cascades tonight. A hot
dry and unstable air mass will remain in place for much of today for
inland areas, but will see slightly cooler and more stable marine
air gradually spread inland from west to east late today and
tonight. Mid-level haines 6 conditions will persist into the evening
today for the Willamette Valley and the Cascades along with minimum
relative humidity values bottoming out from 15 to 25 percent again
in many areas, warranting a continuation of the Red Flag Warning for
these areas. The main fire concern with these conditions is for
rapid growth of any existing or new fires. The chance of
thunderstorms over the Cascades, and to a lesser extent west into
the Willamette Valley late today and tonight adds a threat of new
fire starts as most storms would potentially produce less than a
tenth of an inch of rain, although it is not out of the question
that isolated storms may produce more, from a tenth to a quarter of
an inch.
&&
.AVIATION...Expect VFR conditions through Sun. Southerly wind
flow could bring in some smoke and haze from nearby fires into
the Willamette Valley but do not expect any visibility impact.
Upper level shortwave and associated low off the CA/OR coast will
migrate northward Sun afternoon bringing in more low and mid-
level moisture. Scattered mid-level clouds are likely inland
through the day. In addition to the moisture, the atmosphere will
become more unstable ahead of the upper level disturbance this
afternoon. May see a few isolated to scattered thunderstorms
along the Cascades and foothills with a slight chance of storms
through the eastern part of the Willamette Valley.
Marine stratus will begin moving up the OR coast this afternoon,
likely reaching KONP around 03Z to 04Z Mon, and continue to
spread north. Latest model guidance suggest stratus will come in
at low MVFR around 1200-1500 ft cigs, but could see conditions
dropping to IFR later. Anticipate MVFR stratus to reach KAST by
around 07Z-08Z Mon.
METAR note: KTTD ASOS has several missing elements and will
likely not be repaired until Monday.
Refer to http://weather.gov/zse for detailed regional aviation
weather and hazard information.
KPDX and APPROACHES...VFR conditions through the next 24-hr.
There is a very slight chance that some nearby smoke may filter
in near the terminal but likely it will remain elevated with no
impacts. /DDH
&&
.MARINE...Early this morning, weak low pressure will advance
northward causing a southerly wind shift. The southerly winds 10
to 15 kt with the highest gusts up to 20 kt will peak Sun night
and persist through Mon. As high pressure once again builds
across the Pacific NW by Tue, winds will become mostly northerly
with a slight onshore flow likely prevailing.
Northwesterly swell will be the dominate through the next
several days and will likely remain around 4 to 6 ft with a 10
second period. There is also a very slight southeasterly fresh
swell at around 2 ft with a 16 second period which will begin
Tue evening. Later in the week models suggest a stronger low in
the Gulf of Alaska may drive in increasing westerly swell with
seas increasing to 10 feet by late Fri but confidence remains low
with the timing and track of the system. -Muessle/DDH
&&
.PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Excessive Heat Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for Cascade
Foothills in Lane County-Central Columbia River Gorge-
Central Willamette Valley-Greater Portland Metro Area-
Northern Oregon Cascade Foothills-South Willamette Valley-
Upper Hood River Valley-Western Columbia River Gorge.
Red Flag Warning until 11 PM PDT this evening for Central
Oregon Cascade Foothills-Mt. Hood National Forest West of
Cascade Crest-North Oregon Cascade Foothills-Willamette
National Forest-Willamette Valley.
Heat Advisory until 9 PM PDT this evening for Cascades in Lane
County-Central Coast Range of Western Oregon-Coast Range
of Northwest Oregon-Lower Columbia-Northern Oregon
Cascades.
WA...Excessive Heat Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for Central
Columbia River Gorge-Greater Vancouver Area-Western
Columbia River Gorge.
Red Flag Warning until 11 PM PDT this evening for Clark County
Lowlands-Eastern Gifford Pinchot National Forest Mt Adams
Ranger District-Extreme South Washington Cascades and
Foothills.
Heat Advisory until 9 PM PDT this evening for I-5 Corridor in
Cowlitz County-South Washington Cascade Foothills-South
Washington Cascades.
PZ...None.
&&
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www.twitter.com/NWSPortland1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Beachie Creek wildfire started around 1100PDT on August 16, 2020 in the Opal Creek Wilderness, Marion county, OR at coordinates 44.821, -122.188. The fire remained in a remote location through the month then grew rapidly in September. It was not contained until December. The cause of the fire is unknown.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, August 2020
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: 935717.