California, 2001

Heat in California, September 23, 2001

September 23, 2001 · NWS SGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A 24 year old man became disoriented from dehydration while hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail between Highway 74 and Idyllwild. Daytime temperatures were in the low to mid 90s at the 4500 foot elevation and the relative humidity was less than 15 percent.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
1
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 24 year old man became disoriented from dehydration while hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail between Highway 74 and Idyllwild. Daytime temperatures were in the low to mid 90s at the 4500 foot elevation and the relative humidity was less than 15 percent. A Search and Rescue effort was launched after he failed to return that evening. He was found the following morning around 6 a.m.

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 Sep 23, 8:00 AM PST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 23, 8:00 AM PST, 2 hours before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
900 AM PDT SUN SEP 23 2001

.SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE THE FAIR WEATHER WITH A
SHALLOW MARINE LAYER BRINGING NIGHT AND MORNING LOW CLOUDS AND FOG
NEAR THE COAST.

.DISCUSSION...WX TODAY THE SAME AS ON SAT. FOG EXTENDED SLIGHTLY
MORE INLAND THIS MORNING WITH PATCHY DENSE FOG. NOW CLEARING FAST.
INVERSION NEARLY IDENTICAL IN STRENGTH AND DEPTH SO EXPECT LOW
CLOUDS WILL AGAIN STRUGGLE TO CLEAR FROM BEACHES.

UPPER RIDGE OVER WESTERN U.S. WILL BE DOMINANT FEATURE THIS WEEK.
UPPER TROUGH IN GULF OF AK SPINS OFF SHORTWAVE THROUGH NORCAL MON
PM/TUE AM BUT HEIGHTS BARELY BUDGE OVER SOCAL. ON TUE WOULD EXPECT
SLIGHTLY LOWER TEMPS...A SLIGHTLY DEEPER MARINE LAYER AND SOME
BREEZES IN MTNS/DESERTS. FLOW TRENDING OFFSHORE WED-THU BUT DO NOT
SEE MUCH CHANGE IN CURRENT PATTERN. EXTENDED MODELS BRING UPPER
TROUGH OVER W CST FOR COOLER WX AND MORE CSTL CLOUDS NEXT 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 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, P W Riverside

When
September 23, 10:00 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST
Where
P W Riverside forecast zone
Injuries
1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heat
Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, September 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: 5269151.