Wildfire — Josephine, Oregon

2002-07-26 to 2002-07-29 · near Countywide, Josephine, Oregon

Event narrative

See below.

Wider weather episode

A Red Flag Warning was issued for all or part of the above counties at the above times. Fire weather zones 617 through 625 were included in the original warning. The warning for zones 624/625 was for strong north winds and poor overnight RH recoveries. No observations are currently available, but the winds were quite strong in this warning period. The warning was cancelled at 2100 PDT on 07/27.The warning for zones 617-623 was initially for poor overnight recoveries combined with moderate northeast winds across the ridgetops.The warning for zone 617 was cancelled at 0900 PDT on 07/28/02. The warning for the remaining zones remained in place and was extended at 0700 PDT on 07/29/02 for expected Haines Indices of 6. All warnings were cancelled at 1900 PDT on 07/29.No observations are currently available for verification, but the ongoing fires in this area exhibited extreme behavior during the warning period with very strong winds reported by fire weather personnel. Even if the warning criteria was not strictly met, the forecasters on-station and in the field felt that conditions were critical enough due to ongoing fires and dense, dry fuels in the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5304244. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.