Slow moving thunderstorms over the San Bernardino Mountains caused flooding of homes, businesses, and roads around Big Bear City and mud slides just west of the Cajon Pass. As the runoff came down the north slopes, flood waters two feet deep covered Highway 247 near Pony Road.
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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.
Slow moving thunderstorms over the San Bernardino Mountains caused flooding of homes, businesses, and roads around Big Bear City and mud slides just west of the Cajon Pass. As the runoff came down the north slopes, flood waters two feet deep covered Highway 247 near Pony Road.
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 7, 8:30 AM PST, 2 hours 41 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
930 AM PDT SAT JUL 7 2001
...SYNOPSIS...
THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN ARE EXPECTED AGAIN OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND
DESERTS INTO THIS EVENING...AND A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT. THERE
COULD ALSO BE SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS
TODAY. DRIER SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL BRING A DECREASING CHANCE OF
MOUNTAIN AND DESERT THUNDERSTORMS EARLY NEXT WEEK. A SHALLOW MARINE
LAYER WILL CAUSE AREAS OF NIGHT AND MORNING COASTAL LOW CLOUDS AND
FOG...OTHERWISE FAIR.
...DISCUSSION...
LOTS OF MID AND HI LEVEL DEBRIS CLOUDS AROUND THIS AM AND AREAS OF LOW
CLOUDS/FOG NEAR COAST. 12Z NKX SOUNDING NOT QUITE AS WET AS 24 HOURS
PREVIOUS BUT STILL SHOWED MOIST LAYER FROM ABOUT 770 MB TO 500 MB WITH
SLY WINDS THROUGH COLUMN. WEAK ONSHORE GRADIENTS WITH ABOUT 3 MB
SAN-IPL.
MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM AGAIN TODAY WILL BE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN
AND THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING. A VORT MAX IS EXPECTED TO MOVE
THROUGH FROM THE SW AND MAY HELP CAUSE A FEW MORE SHOWERS W OF THE
MOUNTAINS TODAY. OTHERWISE...THERMAL AND MECHANICAL LIFT OVER MOUNTAIN
AND DESERTS WILL KEEP THEM THE PREFERRED AREAS FOR FLASH FLOODING THIS
AFTERNOON/EVE...ESPECIALLY ON THE S TO SW FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES. SHOULD
BE INTO NVA LATE TONIGHT FOR DECREASING SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS. DRIER SW
FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPS SUNDAY FOR AN END TO THE THREAT OF SHOWERS/
THUNDERSTORMS W OF MOUNTAINS BUT STILL ENOUGH RESIDUAL LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE FOR SOME MENTION IN THE MOUNTAINS/DESERTS WITH EVEN LESS CHANCE
ON MON. GRADUALLY INCREASING HEIGHTS/THICKNESS/850 MB TEMPS AND LESS
CLOUD COVER FOR WARMING IN MOST AREAS. HOWEVER...INCREASING ONSHORE
GRADIENTS TO INTENSIFYING DESERT THERMAL LOW WILL MODERATE MAX TEMPS
NEAR THE COAST. A SHALLOW MARINE LAYER WILL RESULT IN SOME NIGHT/MORNING
COASTAL LOW CLOUDS/FOG.
LONGER RANGE PROGS MAINTAIN DRY SW FLOW ALOFT THROUGH MID WEEK BUT WITH
POSSIBLE WEAK ELY WAVE TUE. UPPER HI SLOWLY BUILDS BACK OVER THE SW
TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK WITH FLOW ALOFT TURNING MORE SLY AGAIN. WILL
LEAVE IN SOME MOUNTAIN/DESERT THUNDERSTORMS...OTHERWISE FAIR WITH NIGHT/
MORNING COASTAL LOW CLOUDS AND MINOR TEMP CHANGES.
.SAN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 9 PM FOR MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS
CAZ055-056-058-060-061-062...SEE LA]XFFASAN.
ATKIN
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO, CA
745 AM PDT SAT JUL 7 2001
TIME(PDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1100 AM MONTCLAIR CA LIGHTNING DAMAGE
07/06/01 SAN BERNARDINO A BOLT OF LIGHTNING STRUCK A
A FURNITURE STORE. DAMAGE WAS
ESTIMATED AT $840,000.
1100 AM FONTANA CA TSTM WIND GUST
07/06/01 SAN BERNARDINO POWER LINES WERE BLOWN DOWN
IN FONTANA AND CHINO.
1110 AM RANCHO CUCAMONGA CA LIGHTNING INJURY
07/06/01 SAN BERNARDINO A 33 YEAR OLD MAN WAS THROWN
5 FEET WHEN LIGHTNING STRUCK
A CEMENT TRUCK HE WAS WORKING
NEXT TO. THE TRUCK DRIVER WAS
NOT INJURED.
1300 PM BIG BEAR LAKE CA URBAN FLOODING
07/06/01 SAN BERNARDINO FLOODING OF ROADS AROUND
BIG BEAR LAKE AND LAKE
ARROWHEAD. SPOTTERS OBSERVED
HEAVY RAIN DURING A 5 MINUTE
PERIOD.
1400 PM MORONGO VALLEY CA URBAN FLOODING
07/O6/01 SAN BERNARDINO FLOODING ALONG HIGHWAY 62
WAS REPORTED FROM A
THUNDERSTORM.
1600 PM 2 S PALM SPRINGS CA FLASH FLOOD
07/06/01 RIVERSIDE FLOODING ALONG PALM CANYON
WASH BETWEEN ARABY STREET
AND CATHEDRAL CANYON DRIVE.
WATER WAS FLOWING FAST AND
DEEP ACROSS ROADS.
RBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flash flood. 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, July 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: 5258014.