Hope Fire started on July 8 by suspected human cause. It was 15 miles of Kettle Falls Washington.
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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.
Hope Fire started on July 8 by suspected human cause. It was 15 miles of Kettle Falls 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 Jul 8, 12:50 PM PST, 25 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
150 PM PDT Tue Jul 8 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Hot temperatures today peaking in the upper 90s to 105.
- Dry conditions and increasing winds will bring critical fire
weather conditions Tuesday and Wednesday. Red Flag Warnings
have been issued from 1pm Tuesday to 8pm Wednesday.
- Wednesday will deliver the strongest winds. Gusty conditions
expected regionwide with gusts 30 to 40 mph.
&&
.SYNOPSIS...
Today will be hot and very dry. Increasing winds combined with
dry conditions Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday will result in
critical fire weather conditions. After a brief mid-week
cooldown, warm temperatures will return Friday into next
weekend.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Tonight through Wednesday: Red Flag Warnings remain in place
across much of Central and Eastern Washington and down around
the Lewiston area for wind and low relative humidity. Water
vapor satellite shows a large closed low moving into British
Columbia with a trailing cold front drapped across Vancouver
Island this afternoon. Hot, dry, and breezy west to southwest
winds will continue ahead of the front into the early evening
hours. The Red Flag Warning was expanded earlier to include the
Methow Valley. Heat Advisories are also in place across many of
the lower elevations of Central and SE Washington down into the
Lewiston area as high temperatures reach near the 100F mark.
After a lull tonight, winds will increase further on Wednesday
with the cold front passage. This in combination with relative
humidity near critical thresholds will result in another day of
fire weather concerns over the region with Red Flag Warnings.
Regarding precipitation and thunderstorm potential with the
front, overall the chances are low as the brunt of the moisture
tracks north of the Canadian border. There are a couple areas to
monitor however. Ahead of the front some elevated moisture and
instability gets picked up from northern Oregon and tracks
northeast as far north as Spokane and Coeur d'Alene overnight
into early Wednesday morning. The NAM shows 700-500mb MU CAPE
reaching 300-500 J/KG but forcing is minimal. Thus just some mid
level clouds are expected along with a possible sprinkles.
Although given the instability a stray storm is not completely
out of the question. The second area comes with the front
passage. Upslope flow into the Cascade crest and increase in
lower/mid level moisture will likely produce some precipitation,
but the westerly flow will absorb this moisture with little to
no precipitation expected in the lee of the Cascades away from
the crest. The second area is along the Canadian border where
there is a 20% chance of showers on Wednesday.
Regarding smoke: The latest HRRR smoke model is showing smoke from
the Pomas Fire in the Cascades tracking eastward into the northern
mountains southward to the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area tonight into
Wednesday morning and again Wednesday night. Although much of the
smoke is expected to remain aloft with the greatest surface smoke
continuing to occur in the Entiat Valley during the overnight and
morning hours.
Thursday through Tuesday: Ensembles are in good agreement of a
flat ridge providing a dry pattern Thursday through the weekend.
This pattern results in a gradual warming trend as high
temperatures warm back up into the 90s. The flat ridge and zonal
flow over the area will also bring about some increase west-
southwest breezes each afternoon and evening leading to elevated
fire weather conditions returning again as well starting on
Saturday. On Monday and Tuesday approximately 1/2 of the ensembles
show a wave dropping down from the northwest bringing about a
shift to breezy north winds and a little cooler but still dry.
The other 1/2 keep flat ridging in place for contined warm and dry
weather. Current forecast favors some slight cooling and increase
in winds but this may be fine tuned further as we get closer. JW
&&
.AVIATION...
18Z TAFS: High pressure aloft will result in VFR skies through
the taf period. Winds will pick up after 19z with gusts 15-25
kts. Winds decrease after 01z for Spokane, Pullman, and
Lewiston but remain elevated into Tuesday evening for Moses
Lake, Wenatchee, and Omak. Convection is expected to fire over
Central Oregon Tuesday afternoon with some cells skirting south
of Lewiston Tuesday night and 10-20% chance for elevated cells
to pass through far SE WA and NC Idaho 6-12z with sprinkles.
There is also elevated instability over the Spokane/Coeur
d'Alene area between 9-15z but only some passing mid level
clouds are expected.
FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: High confidence
in VFR conditions through the TAF period. Main uncertainty is if
t-storms develop over the higher terrain of NE WA Tuesday
afternoon and track in vcnty of LWS and Winchester, ID. HREF has
a 10-20% chance for lightning between 00-03z. There is also a
small chance of an isolated shower or thunderstorm from
elevated instability over KGEG/KSFF/KCOE between 9-15z Wed but
this carries very low confidence and not included in any of the
TAF's. JW
-----------------------
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 63 89 58 83 54 89 / 10 10 0 0 0 0
Coeur d'Alene 61 88 59 79 54 86 / 10 10 10 0 0 0
Pullman 59 85 54 78 51 86 / 10 10 0 0 0 0
Lewiston 69 95 65 86 60 92 / 10 0 0 0 0 0
Colville 53 88 48 82 45 89 / 0 10 10 0 0 0
Sandpoint 57 83 56 76 49 84 / 10 10 20 10 0 0
Kellogg 65 85 59 76 56 84 / 10 10 10 10 0 0
Moses Lake 63 91 58 87 58 94 / 0 10 0 0 0 0
Wenatchee 68 86 63 86 63 94 / 0 10 0 0 0 0
Omak 63 87 57 86 56 92 / 0 10 0 0 0 0
&&
.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...Heat Advisory until 9 PM PDT this evening for Lower Garfield
and Asotin Counties-Moses Lake Area-Okanogan Valley-Upper
Columbia Basin-Waterville Plateau-Wenatchee Area.
Red Flag Warning until 8 PM PDT Wednesday for Colville
Reservation (Zone 702)-Eastern Columbia Basin -Palouse -
Spokane Area (Zone 708)-Foothills of Central Washington
Cascades (Zone 705)-Lower Palouse -Snake River (Zone
709)-Okanogan Valley (Zone 703)-Waterville Plateau (Zone
706)-Western Columbia Basin (Zone 707).
Red Flag Warning from noon to 8 PM PDT Wednesday for Foothills
of Northeast Washington (Zone 701).
Red Flag Warning until 10 PM PDT this evening for Methow
Valley (Zone 704).
ID...Heat Advisory until 9 PM PDT this evening for Lewis and
Southern Nez Perce Counties-Lewiston Area.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Hope Fire started by a suspected human cause on July 8. It was located 15 miles north of Kettle Falls Washington. It burned around 8177 acres of timber, two homes, and a 150 acre ranch. 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, July 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: 1287845.