Strong surface high pressure over the western United States forced gusty offshore flow from passes to the coast. Strong upper-atmospheric flow augmented the surface pressure gradients, resulting in particularly damaging Santa Ana wind conditions, especially during the late night and morning hours.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 SGX wrote it up.
Strong surface high pressure over the western United States forced gusty offshore flow from passes to the coast. Strong upper-atmospheric flow augmented the surface pressure gradients, resulting in particularly damaging Santa Ana wind conditions, especially during the late night and morning hours. The winds toppled hundreds of trees, damaged scores of homes and vehicles, blew big-rigs off the road, raised clouds of choking dust and sand, restricting visibility, and snapped power poles and lines, sending tens of thousands of customers into darkness. A wind gust of 96 mph was clocked by the Highway Patrol near Pine Valley, in San Diego County at 8:15 am on the twelfth. A truck window shattered here, and two big-rigs were blown over. Two construction workers were killed, one in Riverside, when a wind-blown panel knocked him off a water tower, and another in Irvine, when he was struck in the head by a piece of wind-blown plywood. A roof was blown off a mobile home, and two house fires were ignited by wind-blown power lines in Santa Ana. Even Fashion Island's 112-foot Christmas tree was stripped of its world's-largest-tree title, when a gust sheared 30 feet off the top. In the mountain communities of Riverside County, falling trees damaged homes and power poles, and closed some roads. A fish farm in Sun City reported in excess of $1 million in structural damages. Some 5.4 million pounds of avocados were blown off the trees, of which 25% were not recovered. In Coronado, 4 boats were destroyed and another 4 boats and 15 docks were damaged, when boats broke loose from their moorings in gale-force winds. Farther north, more than 20 miles off the mainland, 6 boats were driven ashore, and others sank at their moorings in Avalon Harbor, on the east side of Catalina Island.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 high wind, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Wind, Riverside County Valley/The Inland Empire | 1997-12-11 | 31 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
| High Wind, Orange County Coastal Plain | 1997-12-10 | 44 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 1997
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: 5626265, 5626266, 5626267, 5626268, 5626271, 5626270, 5626269.