Martin Wildfire started on August 27 by lightning. It was located 45 miles Northwest of Chelan, Washington.
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The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
Martin Wildfire started on August 27 by lightning. It was located 45 miles Northwest of Chelan, Washington.
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 26, 9:59 PM PST, 49 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 1059 PM PDT Tue Aug 26 2025 .KEY MESSAGES... - Scattered showers with isolated thunderstorms Wednesday and Thursday. Thunderstorms will be capable of heavy rainfall. - An additional round of showers and thunderstorms over the Cascades and northern mountains this weekend. && .SYNOPSIS... An area of low pressure will bring scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to the Inland Northwest through Thursday. Thunderstorms will bring the potential for heavy rainfall particularly in the Cascades and in the southern Idaho Panhandle to southeast Washington on Wednesday. Temperatures will cool into the 80s to low 90s through the rest of the week. && .DISCUSSION... Tonight through Thursday night: A broad area of low pressure will slowly make its way northward across the Northwest over the next couple of days. Moisture poshing up into the region will bring an increased risk for showers and thunderstorms particularly in the afternoon and evening hours. P-wats will be around 200% of normal for Wednesday and Wednesday night. There will be a considerable amount of cloud cover that develops over the region early Wednesday. Shower activity will be limited be a lack of dynamics, but it won't take much lift to squeeze out moisture. Model guidance still shows a lack of instability for convection. Where clouds thin and insolation is strongest is where thunderstorms will be most likely to develop. The two main areas where this seems to be most likely will be across the southern to central Idaho Panhandle and over the Cascades. Storm motion will be easterly with convection moving off of the higher terrain of the Idaho Panhandle towards the Palouse and potential into the Spokane Area. Main hazard to keep an eye out for will be rainfall rates from storms as they could be heavy with how anomalously moist the atmosphere will be. The Inland Northwest will be on the back side of the low pressure area for Thursday. This will keep much of the northern half of the region conditionally unstable, and will see a better potential for thinning mid to high level clouds with low levels seeing a better chance for destabilizing. This may result in a better chance for thunderstorms overall arcing from the Cascades to the northern mountains of eastern Washington and into the Northern Panhandle. P-wats will remain moist at 180% plus of normal with storms capable of heavy rain. Any thunderstorms that track across a burn scar will be capable of producing mud and/or debris flows. Any risk of flash flooding (even near burn scars) is still quite low though. The added cloud cover and showers will result tin cooler temperatures than previously thought for Wednesday. The Extreme Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories have been moved up to expire this evening rather than continue into Wednesday. Thursday night through Tuesday: A brief period of shortwave ridging higher pressure moves in Friday into early Saturday. There will continue to be lingering convection over the Idaho Panhandle on Friday, but showers will be isolated in general and an overall drier day. Temperatures do see a bump back up Friday into Saturday with highs warming back up into the mid 80s to mid 90s. A more consolidated and robust upper level low pressure system swings across northwest Washington on Sunday. This low pressure system will pack better dynamics aloft combined with good instability with CAPE of 800-1200 J/kg over the Cascades into the Okanogan Highlands for Sunday. This will bring a better chance for organized convection and potentially some strong thunderstorms as well. Something that we will need to keep an eye on as the weekend approaches. Models do seem to be trending toward this scenario though. Model guidance is more uncertain into early next week with ensembles keeping a baggy trough of lower pressure over the Inland Northwest. This would keep at least isolated showers over the mountains in play. Temperatures won't be as hot but remain above normal. /SVH && .AVIATION... 06Z TAFS: VFR conditions are expected to continue through the period. Monsoonal moisture lifting north into eastern Washington and north Idaho will keep middle to high level clouds over the area through Wednesday. Shower and isolated t-storms will be possible tonight through Wednesday night. The better potential will be around the southeast WA and lower ID, expanding into central WA through the night/early morning and into northeast WA in the later morning to evening. These will be isolated to scattered in nature except toward PUW/LWS toward 19-21Z into the evening. There is the potential for t-storms in these areas as well, but not enough to include in TAF sites at the time. FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: High confidence in continued VFR conditions. Moderate confidence in timing of showers at PUW/LWS and low to moderate confidence in timing at other TAF sites. Moderate in confidence in thunderstorms over SE WA/lower ID, but low confidence in timing and coverage. ----------------------- 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:/weather.gov/otx/avndashboard && .Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs... Spokane 68 88 65 84 61 89 / 10 20 30 30 10 0 Coeur d'Alene 68 89 65 86 62 89 / 10 20 20 30 10 0 Pullman 64 82 60 80 55 87 / 20 30 40 30 10 0 Lewiston 73 86 68 89 64 94 / 20 30 40 20 0 0 Colville 57 91 55 86 54 87 / 10 20 20 30 20 10 Sandpoint 62 90 59 84 56 85 / 0 10 10 30 20 10 Kellogg 69 87 65 79 62 84 / 10 30 30 30 20 10 Moses Lake 69 90 68 90 62 92 / 20 20 30 20 10 0 Wenatchee 75 90 71 90 68 92 / 10 30 30 20 10 0 Omak 70 92 68 92 65 93 / 10 20 30 30 20 10 && .OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...None. ID...None. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Martin Wildfire started on August 26 by lightning. It was located 45 miles Northwest of Chelan, Washington. It burned 388 acres of timber. It was contained on August 27. Cost is estimated.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, August 2025
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: 1292508.