Gusty North winds behind a cold front funneled down the Okanogan Valley and over the western portion of the Columbia Basin. Speeds reached into the 35 to 40 MPH.
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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.
Gusty North winds behind a cold front funneled down the Okanogan Valley and over the western portion of the Columbia Basin. Speeds reached into the 35 to 40 MPH. A long dry spell allowed the winds to pick up loose soil and dust from a recently worked farmland. It caused reduced visibility across the area and led collisions and road closures.
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 Sep 8, 9:19 AM PST, 3 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
1019 AM PDT Thu Sep 8 2022
.SYNOPSIS...
Look for significantly cooler temperatures Today and Friday with
highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s, but localized gusty north
winds and low humidity will continue to heighten wildfire
concerns. The wind will gradually relax Saturday leading to a warm
and potentially smoky weekend.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Today and Friday:
On the backside of our cold front that moved through yesterday, it
is definitely dry throughout the Inland Northwest. Humidity
values in the teens to low 30-percent range are observed. Gusty
west- northwest winds are still howling as of 2 AM across the
western Columbia Basin and the Waterville Plateau, namely Ephrata
and parts of Douglas county. On the plus side, those that enjoy
and are longing for cooler days will be in for a treat today;
temperatures will be about 10-12F degrees cooler than Wednesday.
Winds will increase out of the north Today focused through the
Okanogan Valley and onto the Waterville Plateau. Yesterday blowing
dust became an issue across the western Columbia Basin with
strong westerly winds. Today, some locations through the OK Valley
and Waterville Plateau could see blowing dust, though it should
be much more localized. The Purcell Trench will see a surge of
gusty north winds as well, which may also impact the northern
ridgetops in northeast Washington. Speaking of dry weather, the
Ensemble climo precipitable water table has a larger swath of
minimum PWAT values for Eastern WA. PWAT values in the 10-30% of
normal range; I'd call that bone dry. Local and regional wildfires
producing smoke will send that smoke into Spokane and eastern
Washington/Idaho Panhandle with the north winds. However, tonight
as the winds begin to shift more northeast, that smoke should mix
a bit and see some improvement. Overall, the winds will move that
smoke around a bit.
As the upper level trough digs and deepens east of the Northern
Rockies overnight, Friday will become increasingly concerning for
the Pacific Northwest. The pressure gradient from northeast
Washington to south of Portland/northwest Oregon across the
Cascades becomes quite stacked as the surface winds shift out of
the northeast. HREF guidance has several hours of sustained winds
20-25 mph across the greater Columbia Basin and a few hours of
average gusts 25-30 mph, 30-35 mph for Cascade slope areas.
Ensemble guidance from the EC has been very consistent with the
gusty winds Thursday and continuing Friday. A second day of normal
seasonal temperatures here in the Inland Northwest, though windy. /Dewey
Saturday through Wednesday: Ridging continues to build Saturday with
temperatures warming back into the 80s across the entire Inland
Northwest. A continued tight north/northeast pressure gradient
Saturday will result in another day of hot, dry, and breezy
conditions. Winds do look to be weaker compared to Friday as the
pressure gradient begins to slacken, but warmer temperatures along
with the arrival of much drier air on Saturday will allow relative
humidity values to tank back into the single digits and low teens.
This will keep fire weather concerns elevated through Saturday
afternoon.
Winds will shift back to the west-southwest on Sunday as the thermal
trough west of the Cascades shifts back to the east. A return to
onshore flow Sunday will provide much needed relief for west-siders,
but any smoke from new fires during their critical fire conditions
(Friday into Saturday) may begin to migrate into the Inland
Northwest during this time. This is a hypothetical situation as of
now, as this is conditional to new fires starting, but degraded air
quality may become more of an issue Sunday into Monday regardless,
especially in areas near areas of existing large fires across north
Idaho, the southern Idaho Panhandle, and southeast Washington. This
doesn't look to be a long duration smoke event like mid-September
2020, with the ridge starting to breakdown by Monday. Sunday looks
to be the warmest day of the period as the ridge becomes centered
over the Inland Northwest. Highs in the upper 80s to low 90s will be
likely.
A pattern change is on the horizon for next week as an approaching
upper level trough interacts with moisture from the remnants of
Hurricane Kay. Right now, chances for precipitation in the
Monday/Tuesday timeframe are quite low, with the biggest change
being increasing cloud cover and a downward temperature trend.
Models are beginning to hint at a secondary trough moving in
sometime Tuesday through Thursday which may bring better chances for
measureable preciptiation. Looking past Day 7, the Pacific Northwest
looks to remain in an unsettled pattern with temperatures near
seasonal averages through the end of next week. Hello Fall? vmt
&&
.AVIATION...
18z TAFs: VFR conditions will likely prevail in all the TAF sites
except EAT this evening. MVFR conditions may occur around 20Z to
06Z at EAT and potentially IFR from 06Z to 11Z if the smoke is
thick enough. The tight pressure gradient resulting in gusty north
winds down Okanogan Valley/Western Columbia Basin/Purcell Trench.
GEG- SFF- COE-PUW-LWS will also have visibility drops due to
another round of smoke from wildfires in N ID this evening into
tomorrow morning (not expecting MVFR at these TAF sites).
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Spokane 78 47 76 47 82 49 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Coeur d'Alene 77 45 77 46 81 47 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pullman 75 40 76 42 81 45 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lewiston 82 51 83 51 87 54 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Colville 78 39 79 36 83 39 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sandpoint 75 43 73 41 79 43 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kellogg 72 48 72 47 79 53 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Moses Lake 81 50 81 51 86 49 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wenatchee 80 53 81 55 84 58 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Omak 82 50 83 48 87 52 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
&&
.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...None.
WA...Red Flag Warning from 8 AM this morning to 8 PM PDT Friday for
Okanogan Valley (Zone 703)-Waterville Plateau (Zone 706).
Red Flag Warning until 9 AM PDT this morning for Colville
Reservation (Zone 702)-East Washington Central Cascades
(Zone 696)-East Washington North Cascades (Zone 698)-
Foothills of Northeast Washington (Zone 701)-Methow Valley
(Zone 704)-Okanogan Highlands and Kettle Mountains (Zone
699)-Selkirk Mountains of Northeast Washington (Zone 700).
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Highway 2 between mileposts 198 and 200 was closed due to reduced visibility from dust storm. Several collisions were reported.
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, September 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: 1057541.