Santa Ana winds gusting to 60 mph ripped branches off trees across the Inland Empire. In Chino, 3 power poles were knocked down.
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.
Santa Ana winds gusting to 60 mph ripped branches off trees across the Inland Empire. In Chino, 3 power poles were knocked down. In Ontario, power lines were blown down and started small brush fires. A car was knocked off of a jack, pinning the man working underneath it. Blowing tumbleweeds covered Interstate 10, bringing traffic to a complete stop.
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 Jan 2, 9:30 AM PST, 25 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
930 AM PST TUE JAN 2 2001
...SYNOPSIS...
DEVELOPING NORTHEAST WINDS ALOFT AND HIGH PRESSURE OVER UTAH WILL
CAUSE INCREASING OFFSHORE FLOW THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. LOCAL STRONG
GUSTY WINDS WILL OCCUR THROUGH AND BELOW MOUNTAIN CANYONS AND PASSES
TODAY AND WEDNESDAY...DECREASING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON INTO THURSDAY.
WARMER DAYS WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS. FAIR FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND UNDER
WEAK HIGH PRESSURE. AN APPROACHING PACIFIC STORM WILL BRING MORE
CLOUDS...COOLING AND A CHANCE OF SHOWERS EARLY NEXT WEEK.
...DISCUSSION...
THERE WERE AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS/DENSE FOG NEAR THE COAST THIS AM...
OTHERWISE CLEAR SKIES. 12Z NKX SOUNDING HAD A STRONG SURFACE BASED
RADIATIONAL INVERSION WITH NE WINDS TO 75 KT NEAR 300 MB. STRONG
OFFSHORE GRADIENTS FROM N WITH ABOUT -13 MB SAN-TPH. SOME WINDS HAVE
DEVELOPED NEAR MOUNTAINS THIS AM.
OFFSHORE FLOW STILL DEVELOPING WITH CONTINUED STRONG OFFSHORE GRADIENTS
AND IMPROVING UPPER SUPPORT LATER TODAY INTO WED AM. NOT MUCH THERMAL
SUPPORT FOR STRONG WINDS. HOWEVER...CURRENT WIND WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES
LOOK OK...ALTHOUGH IT MAY TAKE SOME TIME FOR WINDS TO PICK UP. UPPER
RIDGE BUILDS IN ACROSS NRN CA WITH CUT BACK TROUGH MERGING WITH LOW TO
OUR SW TODAY INTO WED AM. THIS TURNS THE FLOW ALOFT INTO A MORE ELY
DIRECTION. NE JET OVER SRN NV WEAKENS AND MOVES OVER SRN CA TONIGHT.
WITH WEAK DVV. THIS IS A MORE FAVORABLE PATTERN FOR ELY WINDS AND COULD
BE STRONGER WINDS THROUGH BANNING PASS THAN BELOW CAJON PASS. LOCAL
HEIGHTS/THICKNESS/850 MB TEMPS DO NOT CHANGE MUCH THE NEXT COUPLE OF
DAYS. WEAKENING SUPPORT FOR OFFSHORE WINDS WED PM BUT SHOULD STILL BE
SOME GUSTY WINDS INTO THU. DOWNSLOPE OFFSHORE FLOW WILL BRING WARMER
DAYS W OF MOUNTAINS. COOL TO COLD AT NIGHT WITH GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING
IN AREAS PROTECTED FROM WINDS.
LONGER RANGE PROGS INDICATE RIDGE ALOFT FRI THROUGH WEEKEND WITH
GENERALLY INCREASING ONSHORE GRADIENTS. THIS WILL BRING COOLER DAYS W OF
MOUNTAINS BUT A LITTLE WARMING TO MOUNTAINS/DESERTS. RETURN OF SOME
NIGHT AND MORNING COASTAL LOW CLOUDS/FOG. PACIFIC TROUGH MOVES IN EARLY
NEXT WEEK FOR MORE CLOUDS...COOLING AND A CHANCE OF PRECIP.
SAN 000
.SAN...HIGH WIND WARNINGS AND WIND ADVISORIES...SEE LAXNPWSAN.
ATKIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. 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, January 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: 5229049.