Santa Ana winds snapped a power pole near Rincon.
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 snapped a power pole near Rincon.
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 3, 9:30 AM PST, 1 minute earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
930 AM PST WED JAN 3 2001
...SYNOPSIS...
STRONG HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE PLATEAU WILL RESULT IN SANTA ANA WINDS
THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING...DECREASING BY NOON THURSDAY. WELL ABOVE
NORMAL HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS.
SLIGHTLY COOLER WEATHER IS EXPECTED BEGINNING FRIDAY AS ONSHORE FLOW
RETURNS. A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH WILL DEVELOP NEAR THE WEST COAST
EARLY NEXT WEEK TO BRING INCREASING CLOUDS AND FURTHER COOLING.
...DISCUSSION...
CLEARLY THE PROBLEM OF THE DAY IS THE SANTA ANA WINDS...WHICH HAVE
RESULTED IN HIGH TEMPERATURES MORE APPROPRIATE FOR JULY THAN
JANUARY...AND HIGH WINDS IN SOME AREAS. THE SURFACE HIGH SHOULD
REMAIN FAIRLY STRONG THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON...BEGIN TO WEAKEN SLOWLY
FIRST...THEN RATHER RAPIDLY BREAK DOWN THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO
FRIDAY. UNTIL THEN...THE WINDS WILL REMAIN A PROBLEM.
ANOTHER ISSUE TO LOOK AT LATER IS THE UPPER LOW AND SUBTROPICAL
MOISTURE TO OUR SOUTHEAST. THE PROGS BRING IT NORTH FRIDAY...BUT
THE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE VARIES WITH EACH PROG.
BY NEXT WEEK...THERE SHOULD BE A HUGE CHANGE IN THE WEATHER. I WILL
GO INTO MORE DETAIL ON THE NEXT ISSUANCE OF THE DISCUSSION. FOR
NOW...NO UPDATE TO CURRENT FORECASTS.
SAN 000
.SAN...HIGH WIND WARNINGS AND WIND ADVISORIES...SEE LAXNPWSAN.
SMALLThe 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: 5229044.