Wildfire in California, July 17, 2001

Name: Wildfire in California, July 17, 2001
Start: 2001-07-17T13:46
End: 2001-07-17T14:06
Location: California

July 17, 2001 · NWS SGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A four acre brush fire alongside Interstate 5 briefly threatened some homes in Carlsbad.

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.

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Wind
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Winter weather
Heat and drought
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Fire, smoke and dust
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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 four acre brush fire alongside Interstate 5 briefly threatened some homes in Carlsbad.

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 Jul 17, 1:00 PM PST, 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 1:00 PM PST, 46 minutes before

EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
200 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2001

                             ...SYNOPSIS...
A NEARLY STATIONARY UPPER LEVEL TROUGH ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL
KEEP SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA DRY AND RELATIVELY COOL THIS WEEK. THE
MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS WILL HAVE BREEZY AFTERNOONS AND SEE A FEW
CLOUDS. NEAR THE COAST...ONSHORE FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO BRING AREAS
OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG DURING THE NIGHTS AND MORNINGS.

                            ...DISCUSSION...
MARINE LAYER AND WEAK EDDY TO CONTINUE NOCTURNAL CSTL CLOUDS. THEY
WILL NOT GET VERY FAR INLAND DUE TO WEAKENING ONSHORE GRADIENTS
(ABOUT 1 MB LESS SAN-IPL IN LAST 24 HRS) AS A RESULT OF THE COOLER
AIR OVER DESERTS. EXPECT CLOUDS TO MOVE IN LATE AND MOVE OUT EARLY.

NO CHANGE THROUGH THE WEEK AS THE WEST CST TROUGH REMAINS NEARLY
STATIONARY. WEAK VORT MAXES WILL CONTINUE TO ROTATE WITHIN THE UPPER
TROUGH TO MAINTAIN ITS POSITION. SOME UPPER MOISTURE AND WEAK
DISTURBANCES OVER OLD MEXICO WILL DRIFT N AT TIMES...BUT MOST CLOUDS
AND CHANCES OF PRECIP SHOULD REMAIN IN AZ EASTWARD. A LITTLE HIGH
CLOUDS OR AFTERNOON CUMULUS POSSIBLE OVER MTN AND DESERT ZONES.
BREEZY BUT NOT VERY WINDY AFTERNOONS ACROSS MTN PASSES AND DESERTS.
MINOR TO NEGLIGIBLE FLUCTUATIONS IN TEMPS AND LITTLE CHANGE IN DEPTH
OR EXTENT OF MARINE LAYER CLOUDINESS. THE RIDGE BUILDS BACK INTO CA
EVER kSO SLIGHTLY OVER THE WEEKEND.

.SAN...NONE.

MM

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, San Diego

When: July 17, 1:46 PM PST to 2:06 PM PST
Where: San Diego County, Carlsbad
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

Every storm in California in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 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: 5258024.