During the evening hours, a strong thunderstorm moved through the area East of Inchelium over State route 25. State Patrol reported numerous trees down blocking portions of the route.
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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.
During the evening hours, a strong thunderstorm moved through the area East of Inchelium over State route 25. State Patrol reported numerous trees down blocking portions of the route.
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 6, 2:31 PM PST, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
331 PM PDT Tue Aug 6 2024
.SYNOPSIS...
Showers and thunderstorms will dissipate this evening. Additional
showers are possible Wednesday afternoon around Idaho, then the
next broader chance for showers and thunderstorms comes around
Friday into Saturday. Mountain shower chances lingering into
early next week. Otherwise look for periodic breezy conditions and
temperatures near to slightly above normal.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
This afternoon and tonight: Showers and isolated embedded t-storms
will linger before sunset, shifting toward northeast WA and north
ID before winding down. A shortwave disturbance will continue to
track across the region this afternoon, producing said
showers/t-storms before starting to move out heading into this
evening. They have not been as strong as yesterday from a broader
standpoint, but these will still be able to product some brief
heavy rain and isolated lightning strikes. The best potential will
be before 00Z, shifting toward Northeast WA and north ID after
00Z, then mainly north ID after 00Z and dissipating into the
overnight.
Wednesday and Thursday: the Inland NW transitions to a drier flow,
with winds turning from northwest to northeast ahead of the next
system. Wednesday will still feature some lingering
shower/t-storm chances lingering the ID/MT border. Breezy
conditions will linger down the Okanogan Valley, sustained near
10-15 mph with gusts to 20 mph. Then heading into overnight into
Thursday the northeast winds start to pick up, with the higher
winds shifting to impact the Columbia Basin, from around the
Waterville Plateau/Moses Lake area east to the Spokane/C'dA area
with similar speeds. The exception will be around the Upper
Columbia Basin with winds near 15-20 mph and gusts up to 30 mph.
RH values are currently forecast to be higher than critical
thresholds, but this will still be monitored fire concerns. The
next system starts to approach and increase some shower and
isolated t-storm chances in the Cascades Thursday afternoon into
Thursday night. However the better chances hold off until Friday.
Friday and Saturday: A deeper and wetter system moves into the
region. PWATS rise to around 0.75 to 1.0 in this time frame, which
is about 120-150% of normal. A northeast flow will linger Friday
into early Saturday, then turn westerly Saturday afternoon as the
axis of the system shifts east. So Friday the higher
precipitation chances will be fond near the Cascades through the
northern mountains and in more isolated in nature over the
southeast mountains. The chances expand across the region
Saturday, with the smallest risk around the deeper Columbia Basin.
Embedded t-storms will be possible, especially around the
mountains. Overall areas outside of the mountains will see a small
chance for wetting rains. Higher precipitation amounts are
possible in the mountains. The focus here will be the Cascades
Friday, which may see slower moving showers/t-storms and thus a
better chance of wetting rains. This can be both beneficial and
unwelcome. Beneficial for wildfires in the region but unwelcome if
any of these fall over a burn scar and cause flooding. The
potential expands toward north-central WA Saturday.
Sunday to Tuesday: The region will remain in a troughy pattern,
with another potential organized wave moving in around the start
of the new work week. Sunday the main shower chances linger around
the northern and eastern mountains and then Monday and Tuesday
are found around around the mountains, with only limited chances
outside of the mountains as PWATS drop off to around around 0.30
to 0.80 inches, with the higher range near the north Cascades.
Some low-grade afternoon breeziness is possible, largely gusting
near 15 mph or so. There will also be some of the typical
afternoon/evening gaps winds near the Cascades.
Temperatures are projected to be near to slightly above normal.
Extreme heat is not anticipated, but average highs temperatures
are still in the mid-80s to mid-90s. /Solveig
&&
.AVIATION...
00Z TAFS: A shortwave will shift out of the region through this
evening, allowing the threat of showers and isolated t-storms to
move out of most TAF sites. Breezy conditions will dissipate at
most TAF sites, save for EAT which will see stronger winds through
the evening before abating into the overnight. Regional wildfire
smoke will bring some haze, but it is not expected to impact
flight conditions at TAF sites.
FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Smoke from fires
will result in hazy skies today, but confidence remains high that
VFR conditions will prevail. There is low confidence that
thunderstorms will impact any airports, and a lack of moisture
may result in little in the way of elevated convection this
morning.
-----------------------
Confidence descriptors:
Low - Less than a 30 percent chance
Moderate - 30 to 70
percent chance
High - Greater than a 70 percent chance
For additional probabilistic information for NWS Spokane airports,
please refer to the Aviation Dashboard on our webpage:
https:/www.weather.gov/otx/avndashboard
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Spokane 60 89 61 88 62 89 / 10 0 0 0 0 0
Coeur d'Alene 58 85 58 85 58 85 / 20 0 0 0 0 0
Pullman 55 86 56 87 56 87 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lewiston 67 96 66 95 67 96 / 0 0 0 0 10 0
Colville 48 86 49 85 48 85 / 20 0 0 0 10 0
Sandpoint 55 80 55 81 54 82 / 20 10 0 0 0 0
Kellogg 61 83 59 81 59 83 / 20 10 0 0 0 10
Moses Lake 64 93 64 93 66 92 / 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wenatchee 68 93 70 92 69 90 / 0 0 0 0 0 10
Omak 63 96 64 94 64 94 / 0 0 0 10 10 20
&&
.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...None.
WA...Red Flag Warning until 8 PM PDT this evening for Lower Palouse -
Snake River (Zone 709).
&&The Spokane radar (KOTX), 73 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:38 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm resulted in multiple large trees falling across State Route 25. Road was fully blocked.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, August 2024
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: 1214186.