Lightning started the Parks Wildfire on August 21. It was added to the NW Pasayten Complex on September 6.
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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.
Lightning started the Parks Wildfire on August 21. It was added to the NW Pasayten Complex on September 6.
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 20, 8:53 PM PST, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 953 PM PDT Sat Aug 20 2022 .SYNOPSIS... Some spotty showers along with isolated thunderstorms lingers over the mountains today. The weekend will be warm with the majority of the region experiencing highs in the 90s. The arrival of a front early in the week will bring a chance of showers and thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday and knock our temperatures down into the 80s and low 90s before warming back up by the end of the week. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight: Radar imagery this afternoon reveals scattered showers moving across northeast Washington and north Idaho as a week upper level trough moves across central British Columbia. There has been enough instability to generate a handful of lightning in some cells, but overall these cells have been behaving so far. Chances for showers and thunderstorms will continue into the evening and overnight hours across the north Cascades into the Okanogan Highlands, northeast Washington, and north Idaho. Some high resolution models stretch the storm threat south into Spokane county and across most of the Idaho Panhandle. Any storms that develop will be high based and produce little rainfall so the main concern will be new fire starts. The influence of the trough has kept temperatures on the cooler side readings as of 2 PM in the mid 80s to low 90s running around 2 to 10 degrees cooler than this time yesterday. Sunday and Monday: An upper level ridge will build back over the area on Sunday as a negatively tilted upper level trough approaches the Pacific Northwest. Mostly sunny skies will return as drier air moves into the region. This will allow for temperatures on Sunday to cool by a couple degrees with highs in the mid 90s to low 100s across most areas. Some models are still carrying a slight chance for showers across far northeast Washington and north Idaho, but confidence is quite low. The trough begins to move onshore late Sunday into Monday from the southwest. Deterministic models and their ensembles remain in good agreement on this overnight Sunday into Monday arrival. MUCAPE values range from 100 to 1000 J/kg Monday morning which will support elevated convection across the southern Columbia Basin into southeast Washington and the southern Panhandle. Lightning caused fire starts will remain the biggest concern with these storms. By later Monday afternoon into the evening, attention will turn to north-central Washington as the trough begins to stall. With weak boundary layer winds and PWATS getting to over an inch, models continue to depict stronger, slow moving thunderstorms developing. Under these conditions, any cells will be capable of producing heavier rainfall and increase the threat for localized flash flooding, especially over recently burned areas. Temperatures Monday will cool into the upper 80s to low 90s across the Inland Northwest, breaking the week long stretch of 90F temperatures for many locations. vmt Tuesday through Saturday: The main headlines for the extended forecast include shower and thunderstorm chances during the mid-week and above average temperatures. Tuesday and Wednesday: The negatively tilted trough off the coast of WA Monday moves inland and a closed low forms over our area and southern BC bring chances for showers and thunderstorms downstream the trough axis. Synoptic forcing is not overly impressive, but surface based convection may form in the higher elevations of the ID Panhandle. CSU-MLP forecasts indicate no severe potential Tuesday through Thursday, which makes sense given the weak synoptic pattern in place. Effective bulk wind differences range from 15 to 25 kt, MUCAPEs range from 250 to 1250 J/kg, and 700 to 500 mb equivalent potential temperature lapse rates range from -0.2 to -1.5 K/km. However fire starts via lightning remain a concern as most of the region has dried out significantly from the scorching temperatures from mid-July onward. Tuesday afternoon will likely have the most widespread chances for showers and thunderstorms as the upper level low is slowly traversing eastward into eastern WA/ID Panhandle. A compact PV anomaly moves through the area, providing synoptic scale ascent. PoPs are mostly limited to higher terrain in eastern WA/ID Panhandle as LCLs are tall and the subcloud layer is quite dry elsewhere. Temperatures remain warm Tuesday with highs in the upper 80s to mid 90s (3 to 6 degrees above normal). Thunder chances Wednesday are mostly limited to the E ID Panhandle as the upper level low slowly moves eastward into the ID Panhandle/W MT. Forcing is weak again and mid level lapse rates are weak to moderate at best (6.5 K/km to 7.5K/km), so PoPs will stay in the forecast Wed in E ID. Temperatures will likely be similar to Tuesday with highs in the upper 80s to mid 90s Thursday through Saturday: Height rises start to occur from amplification of the ridge downstream the deep upper level low off the southern Alaskan coast. The forecast remains dry and hot through Saturday. Widespread 90s are looking likely which correspond to temperature anomalies of +5 to +10 F for this time of year. The ridging begins to flatten Friday/Saturday, but uncertainty remains high for the ridge breakdown. As the ridge breakdown occurs, breezier conditions will be a concern for fire weather. /db && .AVIATION... 06Z TAFs: VFR conditions expected for the next 24+ hrs with decreasing clouds overnight and mostly sunny skies Sunday. Smoke and haze from local and regional fires may produce localized visibility reductions. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 65 95 63 88 60 89 / 0 0 0 20 10 10 Coeur d'Alene 63 93 60 87 57 88 / 0 0 0 20 10 10 Pullman 58 92 57 85 54 85 / 0 0 10 30 10 10 Lewiston 69 100 69 93 66 93 / 0 0 10 30 10 10 Colville 55 95 54 91 51 90 / 20 10 0 10 10 20 Sandpoint 60 91 57 87 56 85 / 10 0 0 10 20 20 Kellogg 67 91 66 85 62 85 / 0 0 0 20 20 20 Moses Lake 64 97 65 93 61 93 / 0 0 10 20 10 0 Wenatchee 69 97 71 93 67 93 / 0 0 0 20 10 0 Omak 65 97 66 93 62 95 / 20 0 0 20 10 10 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...None. WA...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Parks Fire started on August 21 by lightning. It became part of the NW Pasayten Complex on September 6. It is located 30 miles NE of Mazama in rugged timber terrain. It burned 20759 acres.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, August 2022
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: 1057825.