Lightning caused fire on July 18 in Shoshone County.
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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 caused fire on July 18 in Shoshone County.
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 Jul 18, 2:09 PM PST, 1 hour 44 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 309 PM PDT Tue Jul 18 2023 .SYNOPSIS... Temperatures will begin to trend warmer again Wednesday through the end of the week as high pressure builds over the region. Winds will become breezy each afternoon starting around Friday and through the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... Tuesday night through Monday: Quiet the beautiful day today. Temperatures in the upper to mid 80s, light winds, clear skies - could it get any better? Unfortunately, this will be short lived as a deepening low in the Gulf of Alaska migrates eastward, amplifying the four corners high northward into the northwest US. Ensembles are in excellent agreement that temperatures will begin to trend warmer into the 90s and low 100s tomorrow through the end of the week. Deterministic solutions suggest impulses rotating around the low which introduces a threat for showers and isolated lightning across the North Cascades Thursday afternoon and perhaps Friday afternoon as well. Chances are low (15-20%), but felt that it wasn't a bad idea for a mention within the forecast. As the deep low migrates toward the coast this weekend, ensembles continue to be in good agreement that the ridge will shift to the east, placing the Pacific Northwest in a deep southwest flow aloft through the weekend into early next week. This resultant flow may allow for elevated moisture to push north, hinting at a threat for dry thunder early next week. This is will be something to keep an eye as the period nears. Beyond Monday, ensembles aren't quite sure yet how the trough will evolve with a even three way split between it remaining offshore, it riding overtop the ridge, and it retrograding back to the west. /vmt && .AVIATION... 00Z TAFS: Weather will remain quiet through the period as an upper level ridge builds over the region. Expect conditions to remain VFR with light and terrain driven winds. High level smoke will push southward into far northeastern Washington and north Idaho tonight through Wednesday morning. Airports across northeast Washington and north Idaho may experience some haziness in the skies, but this should not bring any visibility reductions. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Spokane 56 91 60 96 63 96 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Coeur d'Alene 54 90 58 95 62 96 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pullman 46 90 52 94 58 93 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston 61 99 67 103 70 104 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Colville 48 91 50 95 55 95 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sandpoint 52 88 54 92 57 93 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kellogg 57 88 61 91 66 92 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Moses Lake 54 95 59 99 62 98 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wenatchee 64 94 67 98 68 98 / 0 0 0 0 0 0 Omak 60 95 63 99 66 101 / 0 0 0 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.
Lightning started the Sawtooth Fire on July 18. It covered 800 acres of timber.
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, July 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: 1127036.