The fire started when a combine caught fire at the intersection of Ridpath and Little Goose Dam Roads South of Hay.
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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 fire started when a combine caught fire at the intersection of Ridpath and Little Goose Dam Roads South of Hay.
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 4, 1:56 PM PST, 4 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 256 PM PDT Thu Aug 4 2022 .SYNOPSIS... Breezy winds will begin to decrease this evening as the front moves out of the region. Friday will be cooler, with afternoon temperatures in the 80s. By Sunday, the majority of the Inland Northwest will experience highs in the 90s. Monday and Tuesday will be quite hot with upper 90s and 100s returning to much of the region. A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms arrives for the mountains Wednesday, with breezy conditions across the region. && .DISCUSSION... Thursday night through Friday: The forecasted cold front has made its way through the Inland Northwest, leaving breezy to gusty winds and cooler temperatures in its wake. Temperatures across the region are currently running about 7 to 15 degrees cooler compared to this time yesterday. A strong +8 mb pressure gradient from Seattle to Wenatchee has allowed sustained winds to increase to 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 30 to 35 mph across much of the area. Although relative humidity values have increased due to the cooler temperatures, these strong have resulted in a quick spreading fire across the Columbia Basin. These winds will continue through the early evening before decreasing across much of the region after 8 PM. Winds will begin to shift to the northwest this evening with breeziness continuing through the night and into Friday down the Okanogan valley into the western Columbia Basin. Winds won't be as strong as this afternoon but these areas will still see sustained winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. Behind this front, the Inland Northwest will remain under the influence of a cooler, upper level trough Friday and Saturday morning. A weak system will move through the region Friday which will bring chances for light showers Friday evening mainly across the north Cascades, far northeast Washington, and far north Idaho. Any storms that form will bring the potential for lightning. High temperatures Friday will be similar to today with values in the upper 70s to upper 80s. Beyond Friday, models are in good agreement that the ridge will begin to rebuild over the area late Saturday with temperatures beginning to trend upward. Sunday morning through Tuesday: The pattern through the late weekend and early week looks to be hot and mostly dry. A closed upper level low off the northern California coast will amplify ridging in the inner-mountain west. Cluster analysis for Sunday reveals the ECMWF ensemble builds the ridge rapidly Sunday morning while the GFS ensemble is slower with the exiting trough over the high plains. The Canadian ensemble is in between the EPS/GEFS solutions, but is leaning closer to the EPS. Temperatures Sunday climb into the low to upper 90s in response the building ridge. RHs drop to 8 to 20 percent as this occurs. Fortunately, winds in the building ridge are light around 5-10 mph, so fire concerns are not high Sunday. Monday will be hotter by 5-8 degrees (lower 90s to lower 100s) region wide as the ridge continues to build. Tuesday temperatures are a bit uncertain due to potential high level clouds moving in from the south. EPS ensemble members show 850 temperatures reaching 28 to 29C Tuesday afternoon, which would support temperatures hitting triple digits. This may require an additional round of heat products for early next week. Wednesday and Thursday: Southerly flow aloft will bring in monsoonal moisture from the desert southwest/Gulf of California from Monday into Wednesday. GFS integrated vapor transport shows a considerable amount of moisture moving into eastern Washington from Nevada and California as the ridge builds. Details are fuzzy for the positioning of the upper level low moving into our area. 70% of the total ensembles keep the low weaker and moving faster while 30% (mostly GEFS members) still have a stronger upper level low off the Oregon coast Wednesday. With a stronger/slower upper level low, temperatures would likely be quite warm and winds would be lighter. CAPES look tall and skinny, effective bulk shear looks to be 25 to 35 knots, and PWATs ranging from 0.7 to 1.1 inches. Organized convection would be possible over the Cascades and the northern counties Wednesday morning. Any lightning this time of year is a big problem as far as wildfire concerns. Winds will also become breezier (especially Wednesday) in the Columbia Basin, Okanogan Valley, and perhaps to the Spokane area if the trough moves faster (10-15 mph winds and 20-25 mph gusts). Thursday temperatures appear to be more seasonal (mid 80s to mid 90s) as 500 mb heights are much closer to climatology this time of year. /db && .AVIATION... 18Z TAFs: Wildfires near Vantage in central Washington and near Silver Lake in southwest Spokane county will produce smoke plumes that may be the flight path of Moses lake, Spokane metro, and Coeur D Alene airports today. Winds have begun to pick up across much of the region with a passing cold front. Expect sustained winds to be in the 15-25 mph range and gusts to 35 mph for most terminals. Potentially stronger gusts up to 40 mph will be possible across the Cascade gaps near KEAT. Winds will begin to decrease after 01-03Z this evening. Winds will turn to the north/northwest this evening with gusty conditions lingering around Wenatchee, Chelan, Winthrop, and Omak well into the evening while decreasing for Idaho and eastern third of WA. Smoke could remain an issue into Friday morning with stronger inversions starting to trap smoke closer to the surface. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 51 81 54 85 55 92 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 49 81 52 84 52 90 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pullman 47 79 50 82 49 89 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston 57 88 59 90 58 97 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 42 80 46 86 48 92 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sandpoint 47 80 50 83 49 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kellogg 54 79 56 80 58 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moses Lake 51 84 56 90 56 96 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 54 84 61 90 64 97 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 50 84 56 90 58 98 / 0 0 10 0 0 0 && .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.
A combine caught fire South of Hay. The fire spread into nearby grass and grew to 5680 acres. It burned from the afternoon of August 4 until August 7. The driver of the combine was injured. No structures lost.
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: 1054970.