Lightning caused a 5 acre fire 1 mile northeast of Hailey and prompted some evacuations in Hailey. Rain overnight on August 5th and 6th helped suppression and no structures were affected.
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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 PIH wrote it up.
Lightning caused a 5 acre fire 1 mile northeast of Hailey and prompted some evacuations in Hailey. Rain overnight on August 5th and 6th helped suppression and no structures were affected. The fire was controlled on the 6th and contained on the 7th.
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 Pocatello, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 5, 12:30 PM MST, 8 hours earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pocatello ID 130 PM MDT Thu Aug 5 2021 .SHORT TERM...Today through Saturday night. Main impact through Friday will be thunderstorms. An advancing cold front is triggering thunderstorms across southeast Idaho this afternoon and evening and activity will continue Friday as a second trof pushes through the region. Will likely see gusty winds, small hail and heavy downpours with the strongest thunderstorms and a severe storm with a wind gust over 60 mph is not out of the question either. It will be significantly cooler on Friday behind the cold front with high temperatures even in low elevations struggling to reach 80 degrees with high elevations in the 60s and 70s. Saturday will be dry and sunny with moderating temperatures with low elevations back into the 80s once again. Expect breezy conditions Friday with sustained winds in the 15 to 20 mph range across the Snake River Plain and southern highlands especially with gusts around 30 mph. GK .LONG TERM...Sunday through Thursday. A stronger low will pass just to our north Sunday and Monday. The GFS and NAM want shift the low northward and also away from Idaho quicker. The ECMWF was much slower and keeping showers and storms along the Montana border around longer. The Blend of Models favors the ECMWF idea, but if current trends persist...we may just end up with a quick shot at rain and thunder Sunday. Winds are expected to increase Sunday and may end up being the main risk. At the moment, we aren't looking at anything that would reach Lake Wind or Wind Advisory thresholds. After that the models are struggling a bit with building high pressure. The models are not sure of the expanse/strength or where the ridge will be centered. The cluster forecasts only show one set that is similar to the current runs of the GFS and ECMWF. The other cluster forecasts do show a ridge but show it weaker or centered more to our west. It does appear though we should dry out. Temperatures take a big dip Monday with highs only in the 70s to near 80 in the valleys and 50s/60s in the mountains. After that, we should quickly warm up about 10-15 degrees through the rest of the week. Keyes && .AVIATION... A cold front approaching the region will bring thunderstorm activity thorugh Friday. Have vicinity thunderstorms at all sites this evening and again Friday morning. All sites could see a storm through tomorrow with wind gusts in excess of 40 knots possible near any outflow. General winds will increase Friday with sustained 10 to 20 knots at BYI, PIH, IDA and DIJ with gusts 20 to 30 knots possible behind the cold frontal passage. GK && .FIRE WEATHER...Showers and thunderstorms continue today across central and eastern Idaho. The current round moving through has had some lightning but not a bunch with it. There is quite a bit of clearing behind and we are expecting more to fire and move through this evening. In fact, we should see multiple rounds through tomorrow evening. Storms initially today will be a mix of wet and dry storms and transition to mostly wet by tonight. Gusts over 40mph are possible through this evening with some storms, in fact we could see gusts at or/above 60mph with a handful of storms. Stronger storms may also produce small hail. There is an increasing risk of heavy rainfall, along with potential for debris flows and mudslides. The RED FLAG WARNING for Zone 475 remains in place and won't be extended due to increasing chances of wetting rains. We are not looking at expanding the warning to other areas as fuels are not as dry and the potential for increasing rainfall. The next storm to impact the area will be Sunday into Monday. Increasing winds are definitely expected, but humidities should remain high enough to preclude any Red Flag Warnings even if fuels were to be more receptive. The question remains on the risk of thunderstorms. It does look like we should see some development along the Montana border Sunday especially in Lemhi County. The current forecast keeps that around through Monday, but trends are toward moving that out later Sunday and Monday is storm-free. Stay tuned. Keyes && .PIH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 10 PM MDT this evening for IDZ475. &&
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
848 PM MDT THU AUG 5 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0645 PM TSTM WND GST 6 NW ATOMIC CITY 43.50N 112.89W
08/05/2021 M64 MPH BUTTE ID DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
ITD RWIS STATION AT THE INL PUZZLE/US-20.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
858 PM MDT THU AUG 5 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0845 PM TSTM WND GST 1 ENE HOWE 43.78N 112.98W
08/05/2021 M63 MPH BUTTE ID MESONET
MESONET STATION HOW.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
902 PM MDT THU AUG 5 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0631 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 WNW POCATELLO AIRPORT 42.94N 112.64W
08/05/2021 POWER ID UTILITY COMPANY
THUNDERSTORM WINDS KNOCKED OUT POWER TO
PORTIONS OF MICHAUD AND FORT HALL
RESERVATION.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
905 PM MDT THU AUG 5 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0551 PM TSTM WND DMG 9 NW ABERDEEN 43.05N 112.94W
08/05/2021 BINGHAM ID UTILITY COMPANY
THUNDERSTORM WINDS KNOCKED OUT POWER TO
RESIDENTS WEST OF ABERDEEN AND
SPRINGFIELD/ID-39.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
924 PM MDT THU AUG 5 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0634 PM TSTM WND GST 3 SW MORELAND 43.20N 112.49W
08/05/2021 M51 MPH BINGHAM ID PUBLIC
PRIVATE WEATHER STATION GUSTED TO 51 MPH
NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF ID-39 AND S 1000 W.
&&
KSMITHPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
929 PM MDT THU AUG 5 2021
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0419 PM TSTM WND GST 8 NW HEGLAR 42.55N 113.26W
08/05/2021 M67 MPH CASSIA ID MESONET
MESONET STATION RFTI1 - RAFT RIVER RAWS.
&&
KSMITHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning caused a 5 acre fire 1 mile northeast of Hailey and prompted some evacuations in Hailey. Rain overnight on August 5th and 6th helped suppression and no structures were affected. The fire was controlled on the 6th and contained on the 7th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2021
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: 977859.