The Bartholomew Wildfire began on August 27 about 1 mile east of Medical Lake along Highway 902. The wildfire burned an approximate 200 acres of grass, shrub, and forest lands.
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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 OTX wrote it up.
The Bartholomew Wildfire began on August 27 about 1 mile east of Medical Lake along Highway 902. The wildfire burned an approximate 200 acres of grass, shrub, and forest lands. An additional 50 acres were lost on the Fairchild Air Force Base. The structural damage occurred on August 27 and 28, but full containment did not occur until August 29. One residence and three outbuildings were destroyed by the fire.
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 Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 26, 8:50 PM PST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 950 PM PDT Wed Aug 26 2020 .SYNOPSIS... Expect dry and warm weather for the rest of the week across the Inland Northwest. Saturday will continue to be warm and dry but look for winds to increase with the arrival of a strong cold front late in the day. Saturday night into Sunday has the potential to be quite windy followed by cooler temperatures and a chance for showers early next week. && .DISCUSSION... Wednesday through Friday: Temperatures and sensible weather will remain unchanged through the remainder of the work week across the Columbia Basin and east of the Cascades. Nearly a cloud free afternoon across central and eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle, most of the remnant smoke and haze remains south of the Columbia River and Blue Mountains. Winds have been mostly light and diurnally driven today, and should continue each day through Friday. The eastern slopes of the Cascades will see afternoon/evening wind increases but speeds should remain below 20mph for the brief periods of elevated winds. The high centered around the Four Corners region will begin to shift southeast with another flat, weak high in the eastern Pacific that will shift south Friday and into the upcoming weekend. The flow aloft will begin to turn more westerly, which will further help shunt any smoke and haze to our south and east with an approaching strong and dry cold front. /Dewey Saturday through Sunday: This weekend looks to be quite eventful as an upper level trough pushes into the PNW bringing a strong dry cold front through the area Saturday night into Sunday. The combination of this and a high pressure sitting offshore puts the region into a northerly flow. Saturday's high temperatures will be in the mid to upper 80s, and Sunday looks to cool by about 10 degrees following the passage of the front with highs in the 70s. However, the main impact with this system will be windy conditions across much of the region. Winds will start to pick up ahead of the cold front Saturday. As the front moves through, winds will continue to increase through late Saturday night. Sustained wind speeds of 15-25 mph with gusts 30-40 mph are expected for the Okanogan Valley, Waterville Plateau, and the Moses Lake Area. For the eastern Columbia Basin into the Palouse/Spokane area, sustained winds will be around 10-20 mph with gusts up to 25-35 mph. Winds will remain breezy through Sunday especially for the Okanogan Valley with forecasted gusts up to 20-25 mph. Relative humidities will be in the teens through the weekend. Elevated to critical fire weather conditions will be present for most of the central WA valleys across the Columbia Basin and into the Palouse/Spokane Area. We will continue to closely monitor. Monday through Wednesday: As the weekend trough moves past the area, the area will be in a broad northwest flow. Models begin to suggest the possibility of another trough moving into the region on Monday, but the large spread among the 12z operational models keeps confidence for precipitation low. The official forecast includes a slight chance for precipitation late Sunday night through early Monday afternoon. Monday will remain cool with high temperatures in the 70s. Temperatures will begin to warm up again on Tuesday with highs on Tuesday and Wednesday forecasted to be in the 80s. Winds will generally be 10 mph or less with gusts under 20 mph. VMT && .AVIATION... 06Z TAFS: Skies look to remain a bit hazy near KLWS due to smoke from area fires, but concentrations have thinned out enough that no visibility restrictions are expected into the terminal. Shortwave ridging of higher pressure will keep skies clear for the most. Breezy westerly winds at KEAT will decrease by Thursday morning. /SVH && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 51 85 51 86 53 86 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 51 83 50 85 52 84 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pullman 48 81 48 84 49 83 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston 59 88 58 91 59 92 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 46 87 46 89 47 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sandpoint 49 82 49 83 50 83 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kellogg 55 80 54 83 56 82 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moses Lake 50 88 51 90 53 89 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 58 87 58 90 60 85 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 54 88 55 91 55 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Spokane WA 411 AM PDT Wed Aug 26 2020 IDZ002-003-026-027-WAZ031>036-041-043-044-271115- Coeur d'Alene Area-Idaho Palouse-Lewiston Area- Lewis and Southern Nez Perce Counties-Northeast Blue Mountains- Lower Garfield and Asotin Counties-Washington Palouse- Moses Lake Area-Upper Columbia Basin-Spokane Area-Wenatchee Area- Okanogan Valley-Waterville Plateau- 411 AM PDT Wed Aug 26 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North Idaho... North Central Idaho...Central Washington...East Central Washington...North Central Washington...Northeast Washington and Southeast Washington. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A strong, dry cold front moving through on Saturday will bring elevated to critical fire weather conditions to the Inland Northwest. Any new or existing fire starts will have the potential to spread rapidly under the dry and windy conditions. IDZ001-004-WAZ037-038-042-271115- Northern Panhandle-Central Panhandle Mountains- Northeast Mountains-Okanogan Highlands- East Slopes Northern Cascades- 411 AM PDT Wed Aug 26 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of North Idaho... North Central Washington and Northeast Washington. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY No hazardous weather is expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Bartholomew Fire destroyed four structures: one residence and three outbuildings.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, 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: 916299.