An upper level trough brought cool and windy conditions to eastern Washington on May 23rd. Sustained winds remained elevated through the day with gusty winds in the |afternoon and evening across the Columbia Basin and eastern Cascade slopes.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
An upper level trough brought cool and windy conditions to eastern Washington on May 23rd. Sustained winds remained elevated through the day with gusty winds in the |afternoon and evening across the Columbia Basin and eastern Cascade slopes. Peak gusts reached 40 to 50 mph.
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 May 23, 1:36 PM PST, 2 hours 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 236 PM PDT Sun May 23 2021 .SYNOPSIS... There will be several opportunities for rain this week. The Idaho Panhandle will experience rain into Monday morning. There will be additional chances for showers Monday afternoon and Tuesday with the arrival of a frontal system, and another front will have the potential to produce showers late Thursday into Friday. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Tuesday night: A large closed low over western Montana will slowly move northeast into Monday morning. The low then pulls away before another low slowly tracks across on Tuesday. Tonight through Monday: Bands of precipitation wrapping around the back side of the low over western Montana will mainly track over the Idaho Panhandle. A different story over Central and Eastern Washington where further distance from the low combined with strong downslope winds off the Cascades will result in much lower precipitation chances. This makes a tough rainfall amount forecast for places like Coeur d'Alene, Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, and Kellogg which may see some influence of the drier air moving in with a tight west-east gradient in the qpf from model output. Current forecast calls for less than .10" in Coeur d'Alene with higher amounts as much as .50-1.0" for areas closer to the ID/MT border with locally higher amounts in the mountains. The other story is gusty winds with the low over Montana enhancing the pressure gradient over the region. This is especially true near the Cascades where a deep marine layer over western Washington is enhancing the cross Cascade pressure gradient which is up to 9 mb between Seattle and Wenatchee. Gusts of 35-45 mph are expected through the evening through the Cascade gaps including Wenatchee, the Waterville Plateau, and around Vantage and Mattawa. Elsewhere wind gusts of 25-35 MPH will be common across the Columbia Basin, West Plains, and Palouse. Patchy blowing dust can not be ruled out although localized coverage of the stronger gusts makes this a lower confidence occurrence and not in the forecast at this time. As the low pulls away on Monday a tight west-east pressure gradient persists with breezy winds in the same areas as this evening. An instability axis over the northern mountains Monday afternoon will lead to a better chance of showers and maybe even a few short lived thunderstorms. Monday night through Tuesday night: The next low slowly moves across the area, but with the center of the low tracking from SW Washington into Eastern Oregon. Even with the low passing to the south, our region will have less in the way of downslope winds off the Cascades allowing for a better opportunity for showers and isolated thunderstorms. Tuesday night as the low moves east into Central Idaho the past couple GFS/NAM runs show a possible deformation zone setting up around the Camas Prairie, Palouse, and Central Panhandle Mountains which could bring some rain. There is low confidence whether this will occur with many ensembles dry so forecast sides with the NBM at this point. JW Wednesday: In the morning, models indicate a possible deformation zone that results in a bullseye of higher precipitation totals in or near Shoshone county. Other solutions have this bullseye south and/or east of Shoshone county, placing it just outside of our CWA. Later in the day, the back end of the upper level trough matches with afternoon heating... this will result in a couple of showers and maybe thunderstorms in north Idaho. Otherwise, mostly sunny and dry for areas west of the Panhandle, with max temps in the 70s. Thursday and Friday: The newer run of the national blend has filled in our area with higher PoPs and QPF totals for the Thursday- Friday system as a result of increasing model consensus. It still looks like the Waterville Plateau, Moses Lake Area, and parts of the Basin may not be so lucky in receiving precip. Otherwise precip totals will be light with some locally higher totals to be expected. Regarding timing of the system, the cold front and precip will reach the Cascades on Thursday morning, spreading into the rest of the area in the afternoon/evening and lasting into Friday. Gusty pre- frontal southerly winds will likely occur on Thursday afternoon with speeds of 15 to 25 mph. After the front passes, there will be the potential for west winds of 20 to 30 mph Thursday evening into Friday. Temperatures are currently expected to drop into the mid 60s-mid 70s Friday afternoon and to around 40 Saturday morning. Saturday: Similar to Wednesday afternoon, lingering instability on the back end of the upper level trof paired with afternoon heating may lead to some popup showers and thunderstorms, mostly in the Idaho Panhandle. Saturday afternoon, temperatures recover from the cold front, with high temperatures back in the 70s. RC && .AVIATION... 18Z TAFS: A low pressure system will emerge over western Montana this afternoon promoting breezy west to southwest winds across the region especially near the Cascades including KEAT. Meanwhile bands of rain will impact the Idaho Panhandle through 18z Monday. The 12z NAM model is producing higher rain totals around KCOE/KSZT in excess of an inch with IFR conditions but most other guidance favors MVFR/VFR conditions with the rain with the higher rain totals over western Montana. Forecast leans towards mainly VFR conditions at KCOE but did use a PROB30 group for MVFR conditions 3z-9z tonight. JW/RC && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 47 68 46 66 45 71 / 10 10 20 30 10 0 Coeur d'Alene 46 64 46 64 45 69 / 50 20 30 40 20 20 Pullman 46 63 44 61 43 68 / 10 0 20 50 10 20 Lewiston 49 72 52 69 49 76 / 10 10 20 60 10 0 Colville 45 70 44 69 42 73 / 30 20 40 50 20 10 Sandpoint 47 63 46 65 45 67 / 70 50 40 60 30 20 Kellogg 43 59 48 61 47 64 / 70 40 30 60 30 20 Moses Lake 49 73 46 71 43 77 / 0 0 10 10 0 0 Wenatchee 50 71 51 68 47 76 / 0 0 20 10 0 0 Omak 48 73 49 70 47 77 / 10 0 10 30 10 0 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Spokane WA 410 AM PDT Sun May 23 2021 IDZ001>004-026-027-WAZ031>038-041>044-241115- Northern Panhandle-Coeur d'Alene Area-Idaho Palouse- Central Panhandle Mountains-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- Northeast Mountains-Okanogan Highlands-Wenatchee Area- East Slopes Northern Cascades-Okanogan Valley-Waterville Plateau- 410 AM PDT Sun May 23 2021 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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY No hazardous weather is expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Gusty winds, measured up to 50 mph, occurred through the Eastern Cascade slopes into the upper Columbia Basin. There were public reports and photos of roof damage and broken tree limbs in Chelan.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, May 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: 960256.