Winona Wildfire started by unknown causes on August 18.
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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.
Winona Wildfire started by unknown causes on August 18.
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 18, 3:03 PM PST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
403 PM PDT Fri Aug 18 2023
.SYNOPSIS...
Breezy dry conditions are expected through this evening raising
fire weather concerns. A cooldown with a push of breezy winds and
possible showers arrives by the weekend. A round of moisture
associated with Hurricane Hilary will increase rain/thunder
chances early next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
...WARM, DRY WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON PRODUCING
CRITICAL FIRE CONDITIONS...
Today through tomorrow: The dry front has moved through the
Okanogan/Methow Valley around 10 AM this morning dropping dewpoints
into the single digits. With temperatures in the 80s and low 90s,
this has resulted in relative humidities in the single digits.
Expect this trend to continue for the rest of the INW as LCL-LFC RHs
are extremely dry with the dry front passage. Wildfire smoke
production rapidly increased this morning on active fires in the
region as well. A tight pressure gradient across the region will
keep winds breezy through the evening with sustained winds in the
upper teens and 20s. Gusts will reach into the 30s. Area ridgetops
should expect stronger gusts into the low 40s mph. Winds will calm
behind the front.
Saturday will feature degraded air quality from local and regional
wildfires. Have issued a red flag warning for the Okanogan Valley as
brisk north winds and dry conditions persist through much of the day.
Sunday through Wednesday: Keeping an eye on a PRE (predecessor
rainfall event) in the INW into Sunday through Wednesday from
Hurricane Hilary. There is high amount of uncertainty in how much
rain we will receive. The first round will be light precipitation
Sunday afternoon in SE W/ID Panhandle. The ID Panhandle has a 10-40%
chance of a wetting rain (>=0.10") Sunday while the extreme Eastern
WA has a 10-20% chance of a wetting rain. Those chances increase by
20 to 30% Monday/Tuesday as Hilary interacts with the offshore
trough off the coast of NW CA/trough moving eastward from Vancouver
Island. Enhanced southwest flow aloft and a deep fetch of moisture
from Hilary will lead to increased chances of showers and
thunderstorms Monday through Wednesday. Am not overly concerned with
the rainfall amounts currently. However warm rain processes could
lead to urban/burn scar flooding. Central WA does not look to fare
well with this slug of moisture where there is only a 10% chance of
a wetting rain. Wildfires will stay active in Central WA as they
have the greatest chance to stay dry and breezy during the next
week.
Thursday and Friday: There is a 80% chance of a trough in the PNW
late next week. The position of this trough is unclear at this point
but 50% of the grand ensemble has the trough offshore where there
are height rises downstream would would lead to above average
temperatures, especially in the ID Panhandle. /Butler
&&
.AVIATION...
00Z TAFs: West winds have started to peak with sustained winds
of 15 to 25 mph gusting to 30 mph from Wenatchee to Moses Lake to
Spokane and Pullman. Winds will slowly transition to the northwest
and north by 06Z. Thick smoke from the Crater Creek fire in
British Columbia northwest of Oroville will restrict surface
visibility at the TAF sites. Winds will become calmer overnight.
Smoke and haze will continue to filter south into the Columbia
Basin. /Butler
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Spokane 53 86 53 89 61 86 / 0 0 0 0 10 20
Coeur d'Alene 50 84 54 88 61 83 / 0 0 0 0 20 30
Pullman 48 84 51 86 57 79 / 0 0 0 10 20 30
Lewiston 60 94 64 92 68 85 / 0 0 0 10 30 40
Colville 42 84 43 88 50 86 / 0 0 0 0 10 20
Sandpoint 46 82 49 85 56 81 / 0 0 0 10 20 30
Kellogg 54 83 58 84 62 80 / 0 0 0 10 30 30
Moses Lake 53 87 56 91 62 86 / 0 0 0 0 10 10
Wenatchee 59 85 62 89 66 88 / 0 0 0 0 0 10
Omak 55 87 57 93 62 91 / 0 0 0 0 0 10
&&
.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for Northern and
Central Idaho Panhandle (Zone 101).
WA...Red Flag Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for Colville
Reservation (Zone 702)-East Portion of North Cascades
National Park/Lake Chelan National Recreation Area (Zone
697)-East Washington Central Cascades (Zone 696)-East
Washington North Cascades (Zone 698)-Eastern Columbia Basin
-Palouse -Spokane Area (Zone 708)-Foothills of Central
Washington Cascades (Zone 705)-Foothills of Northeast
Washington (Zone 701)-Lower Palouse -Snake River (Zone
709)-Methow Valley (Zone 704)-Okanogan Highlands and Kettle
Mountains (Zone 699)-Okanogan Valley (Zone 703)-Selkirk
Mountains of Northeast Washington (Zone 700)-Waterville
Plateau (Zone 706)-Western Columbia Basin (Zone 707).
Red Flag Warning from 10 AM to 7 PM PDT Saturday for Okanogan
Valley (Zone 703).
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Human causes started the Winona Wildfire near the town of Winona and 4 miles west of Endicott, WA. It burned 2525 acres of grassland. No structures lost.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, 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: 1138815.