Ridge Creek Wildfire started on August 3 by unknown causes.
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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.
Ridge Creek Wildfire started on August 3 by unknown causes.
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 3, 2:13 PM PST, 12 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 313 PM PDT Thu Aug 3 2023 .SYNOPSIS... The region will see ongoing warm, dry weather today. Friday a small chance for showers and thunderstorms enters the region, with chances continuing to increase into the weekend. The unsettled weather pattern continues into next Tuesday. The pattern is hinting that conditions will warm and dry beginning late next week. && .DISCUSSION... Thursday night through Friday night: As we move into the overnight hours, moisture will begin to move into the region from the southeast, continuing to progress northwest throughout the weekend. The threat for thunderstorms is low for the overnight into Friday morning hours but a few could pop up in the Palouse to Columbia Basin towards the Cascades. These storms will start out dry, as there is a very dry near surface layer the precipitation will need to moisten before anything can reach the ground. Outside of these areas, expect the region to have one more warm and dry day. The threat of thunderstorms increases again on Saturday afternoon as the monsoonal moisture moves in as well as combining with additional moisture from the Pacific. This will bring a more widespread chance of thunderstorms to the region. These storms will bring abundant lightning as well has heavy downpours. There is a potential for flash flooding as these will be slow moving storms, especially in areas near new burn scars as well as those in the last couple years. Temperatures on Saturday will be geared more towards normal, with highs in the 80s. /KM The extended period looks wetter than normal and cooler. Monsoonal moisture from the desert SW will be transported poleward by multiple shortwave troughs. PWATs this weekend will peak as high as 200% of normal and slowly fall to 110% of normal by Wednesday. Precipitation chances will be mainly found over southeast WA and the ID Panhandle early Saturday, then expand throughout the region later Saturday into Sunday. Generally expecting the heaviest rain in the most favored climatologically spots SW 500 mb flow (ID Panhandle, Northern Mountains). Despite widespread lightning, fire risk is not critical given higher relative humidities (30-40%), wet thunderstorm cores, and plentiful cloud cover. Burn scar flooding is a concern as always with high PWATs over the mountains. Temperatures will be cooler near average/slightly below average in the upper 70s to mid 80s. Wednesday and Thursday is when PWAT anomalies decrease to near normal and thunder chances are limited to the mountains of ID/WA. Temperatures start to slowly creep up again late next week. Long range ensembles are indicative of a PNW heat dome forming in Mid August, but it is not a slam dunk. /Butler && .AVIATION... 00Z TAFs: VFR conditions will persist at most sites. Widespread haze will continue through today. Any local fires could result in reductions in visibilities in the direct vicinity of the burn. /KM && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 60 92 64 85 61 82 / 10 10 10 20 30 40 Coeur d'Alene 59 92 61 89 61 82 / 10 10 20 30 40 40 Pullman 57 84 58 81 55 78 / 10 10 10 30 30 40 Lewiston 69 94 69 93 67 89 / 20 10 10 30 30 40 Colville 50 93 55 86 53 82 / 0 0 10 20 30 30 Sandpoint 55 89 58 85 57 79 / 0 0 10 40 50 40 Kellogg 63 86 65 80 63 75 / 10 0 20 50 40 50 Moses Lake 60 92 65 88 64 86 / 10 20 0 10 20 20 Wenatchee 67 93 71 88 70 86 / 0 20 10 20 20 40 Omak 63 97 67 95 66 89 / 0 10 0 10 20 30 && .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.
Ridge Creek Wildfire was started by unknown causes along the North of Trail 234 and on both sides of Hayden Creek 437 Road. It burned 4474 of timber and grass. No structures lost.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Idaho in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Idaho, August 2023
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: 1138818.