A brush fire, started by a house electrical fire, was pushed by Santa Ana winds that reached 50 mph. The blaze quickly grew out of control, consuming several hundred acres within in a few hours.
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.
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.
A brush fire, started by a house electrical fire, was pushed by Santa Ana winds that reached 50 mph. The blaze quickly grew out of control, consuming several hundred acres within in a few hours. A total of 1200 acres were burned before it was fully contained three days later. Two houses, six mobile homes, several outbuildings, and motor vehicles were destroyed. Most of the town's residents were evacuated. Only one injury occurred to a resident from smoke inhalation. Over 300 firefighters fought to protect property and quench the fire, the estimated cost of fighting the fire was $616,000.
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 8, 9:30 AM PST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
930 AM PST SAT DEC 8 2001
.SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT AND OFFSHORE FLOW WILL BRING ANOTHER
SUNNY WARM DAY TODAY. STRONG GUSTY WINDS THROUGH AND BELOW MOUNTAIN
CANYONS AND PASSES WILL DECREASING THIS AFTERNOON. A DEVELOPING UPPER
LOW WILL BRING INCREASING CLOUDS AND COOLING SUNDAY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE
OF SHOWERS SUNDAY NIGHT. DRY AND GRADUALLY WARMER INTO THE MIDDLE OF
NEXT WEEK THEN COOLER TOWARD THE END OF NEXT WEEK.
.DISCUSSION...GUSTY OFFSHORE WINDS THIS AM IN AND W OF MOUNTAINS BUT
MOSTLY BELOW ADVISORY STRENGTH. MOSTLY SUNNY WITH SOME HI CLOUDS. 12Z
NKX SOUNDING HAD RELATIVELY WEAK NLY WINDS ALOFT WITH A SURFACE BASED
RADIATIONAL INVERSION. OFFSHORE GRADIENTS WITH ABOUT -12 MB SAN-TPH AND
ABOUT -5 MB SAN-IPL.
WILL CONTINUE CURRENT WIND ADVISORIES/WARNINGS UNTIL NOON TODAY. ALL
SUPPORT FOR WINDS WILL DECREASE DURING THE AFTERNOON AND OVERNIGHT.
HOWEVER...THERE WILL STILL BE SOME OFFSHORE FLOW AND LOCAL GUSTY WINDS
OVERNIGHT...BUT BELOW ADVISORY STRENGTH. SHORT WAVE OFF THE PAC NW COAST
DROPS RAPIDLY SE TONIGHT/SUNDAY. MUCH COOLER SUNDAY WITH INCREASING
CLOUDS. MOISTURE QUITE LIMITED...BUT SOME OVER WATER TRAJECTORY AND
STRONG DYNAMICS SO WILL CONTINUE SLIGHT CHANCE OR PERHAPS CHANCE POPS W
OF MOUNTAINS LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON/NIGHT. COLD...DRY...NLY FLOW MON WITH
NOT MUCH TEMP CHANGE OVER SUNDAY MAX TEMPS. GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING IN
DRY AIR MASS TONIGHT...HOWEVER WARM DAY TODAY AND SOME LINGER BREEZES
WILL MODERATE MIN TEMPS TONIGHT. MIN TEMPS SUNDAY NIGHT WILL BE ANOTHER
TOUGH CALL DEPENDING ON CLOUD COVER...BUT PROBABLY COLDER IN
MOUNTAINS/DESERTS AND NOT MUCH CHANGE W OF MOUNTAINS.
LONGER RANGE PROGS INDICATE WEAKENING OFFSHORE FLOW TUE INTO WED WITH
DRY N TO NW WINDS ALOFT AND GRADUALLY WARMER DAYS. NEXT TROUGH TOWARD
THE END OF NEXT WEEK LOOKS LIKE INSIDE SLIDER WITH JUST SOME CLOUDS AND
COOLING BUT PROBABLY NO PRECIP.
.SAN...HIGH WIND WARNINGS AND WIND ADVISORIES UNTIL NOON PST...
SEE LAXNPWSAN.
ATKINPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO, CA
525 AM PST SAT DEC 8 2001
TIME(PST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0950 AM 7 N SAN BERNARDINO CA 62 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/07/01 SAN BERNARDINO MEASURED BY NON-NWS
ANEMOMETER AT PALM
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
1000 AM RIVERSIDE CA WIND DAMAGE
12/07/01 RIVERSIDE TREES AND POWER LINES
BLOWN DOWN. 36,000
CUSTOMERS AFFECTED ACROSS
INLAND EMPIRE. WINDS
ESTIMATED AT 60 MPH.
1215 PM ORANGE CA 50 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/07/01 ORANGE A POWER POLE WAS LEANED
OVER TOWARDS A PRIVATE
SCHOOL BY HIGH
WINDS...PROMPTING THE
EVACUATION OF 255 STUDENTS.
0100 PM 3 SW CHINO CA 50 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/07/01 SAN BERNARDINO *** 2 INJ ***
WALL COLLAPSED AT
CONSTRUCTION SITE.
0200 PM BEAUMONT CA WIND DAMAGE
12/07/01 RIVERSIDE POWER LINE BLOWN DOWN.
0514 PM 6 E FONTANA CA 60 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/07/01 SAN BERNARDINO *** 1 INJ ***
BIG RIG OVERTURNED BY
STRONG WINDS.
0535 PM RIALTO CA 52 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/07/01 SAN BERNARDINO MEASURED AT RIALTO
AIRPORT.
1148 PM 1 SW WARNER SPRINGS CA WIND DAMAGE
12/07/01 SAN DIEGO FREEWAY SIGN POST IN
WEST BOUND SLOW LANE OF
INTERSTATE 8 NEAR SR79.
0200 AM 9 E ORANGE CA 100 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/08/01 ORANGE MEASURED BY FREMONT
CANYONS RAWS.
0239 AM 3 E FALLBROOK CA WIND DAMAGE
12/08/01 SAN DIEGO TREE DOWN ACROSS WEST
BOUND LANES OF COUNTY ROAD
S13, JUST WEST OF LIVE OAK
PARK ROAD.
0345 AM 14 E SAN CLEMENTE CA 60 MPH NON TSTM WIND GUST
12/08/01 ORANGE MEASURED BY CASE SPRINGS
RAWS.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2001
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: 5274832.