Wildfire, San Diego
- When
- December 27, 4:30 PM PST to 5:30 PM PST
- Where
- San Diego County, Lakeside
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in California, December 27, 2001
A brush fire along the south side of Interstate 8 near Dunbar Lane backed up commuter traffic for several hours.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
A brush fire along the south side of Interstate 8 near Dunbar Lane backed up commuter traffic for several hours.
What forecasters said that day
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 San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 27, 2:30 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 27, 2:30 PM PST, 2 hours before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 230 PM PST THU DEC 27 2001 .SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE IN NORTHWEST TO WEST WINDS ALOFT WILL BRING VARIABLE CLOUDINESS WITH A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS POSSIBLE LATE FRIDAY INTO SUNDAY. OTHERWISE...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL KEEP THE WEATHER FAIR THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. .DISCUSSION...HIGH CLOUDS TODAY. 12Z NKX SOUNDING SHOWED THE HI LEVEL MOISTURE WITH DRY LOW LEVELS AND SURFACE BASED RADIATIONAL INVERSION. N-NW WINDS ALOFT. GRADIENTS WEAK OFFSHORE FROM NE AND WEAK ONSHORE TO E BUT TRENDING ONSHORE. DIRTY RIDGE INTO FRI WITH LOTS OF HI CLOUDS. RIDGE SLOWLY GETS ERODED BUT RELATIVELY MINOR CHANGES IN LOCAL HEIGHTS/THICKNESS INTO SUNDAY. VERY LITTLE DYNAMICS BUT ENOUGH RH FOR SOME SPRINKLES OR LIGHT SHOWERS...MAINLY NRN ZONES AND HIGHER ELEVATIONS...LATE FRI INTO SUNDAY. RIDGE STARTS TO REBUILD BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND SHOULD SHUT OFF ANY SHOWERS. OUR CWFA WILL BE ON THE EDGE OF THE EDGE OF THE MOISTURE FIELD AND A SMALL DIFFERENCE IN LOCATION WILL MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN OUR CHANCE AND AMOUNT OF PRECIP. FOR NOW IT LOOKS LIKE RAINFALL TOTALS...IF ANY...WILL BE LIGHT. THE HI CLOUDS SHOULD DISRUPT ANY STRATUS FORMATION. HOWEVER...LOCAL FOG MAY FORM W OF MOUNTAINS UNDER SHALLOW INVERSION. MINOR TEMP CHANGES FRI THEN SLIGHTLY COOLER SAT/SUN. FREEZING LEVEL WILL REMAIN QUITE HI WITH SNOW POSSIBLE ONLY ON THE HIGHEST PEAKS. LONGER RANGE PROGS INDICATE CONTINUED DIRTY RIDGE FOR NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE SEASONAL TEMPS AND PERIODIC HIGH CLOUDINESS THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. MORE RIDGING WITH STRONGER OFFSHORE FLOW TOWARD END OF NEXT WEEK FOR LESS CLOUDS AND WARMING. .SAN...NONE. ATKIN
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Extreme Cold in Florida, December 27, 2001
- Heavy Snow in New York, December 27 to 28, 2001
- Extreme Cold in Florida, December 27, 2001
- Frost and Freeze in Florida, December 27, 2001
- Winter Storm in Oregon, December 27 to 28, 2001
- High Wind in California, December 27, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Michigan, December 27, 2001
- High Wind in Alaska, December 27, 2001
- High Wind in California, December 27, 2001
- Heavy Snow in New York, December 27 to 28, 2001
More
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2001
Sources
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: 5274841.