A brush fire that began on 4/9/02 was brought under control on 4/11/02 after burning 105 acres, several power poles, and threatening 20 homes. Two days later, record high temperatures and dry east winds caused the fire to flare up and burn another 150 acres before being brought under containment.
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.
A brush fire that began on 4/9/02 was brought under control on 4/11/02 after burning 105 acres, several power poles, and threatening 20 homes. Two days later, record high temperatures and dry east winds caused the fire to flare up and burn another 150 acres before being brought under containment.
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 Apr 9, 1:00 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 200 PM PDT TUE APR 9 2002 .SYNOPSIS...WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL KEEP PACIFIC STORMS NORTH OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. A WEAK TROUGH WILL SLIDE BY TO THE NORTH WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY DEEPENING THE MARINE LAYER. OTHERWISE FAIR WEATHER WILL CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND. .DISCUSSION...STRATUS CLEARED BACK TO THE COASTLINE BY EARLY AFTERNOON BUT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE BACK ONSHORE LATER THIS AFTERNOON OR EARLY EVENING. PRESSURE GRADIENTS ARE ONSHORE BETWEEN THE COAST AND THE GREAT BASIN AND BETWEEN THE COAST AND THE SOUTHERN DESERTS AND ARE TRENDING ONSHORE. A NEARLY ZONAL PATTERN WILL CONTINUE OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC INTO THE WEST COAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK WITH EMBEDDED S/WV TROUGHS SLIDING EAST WITH THIS FLOW INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. MAIN IMPACT THESE S/WVS WILL HAVE ON SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILL BE TO MAINTAIN A MARINE LAYER ALONG THE COAST AND SOME EDDY CIRCULATION OVER THE COASTAL WATERS THROUGH THE PERIOD. THE MARINE LAYER DEPTH WILL VARY FROM DAY TO DAY DEPENDING ON THE POSITIONS OF THE S/WV TROUGHS AND RIDGES. 12Z MODELS BRING A S/WV TROUGH THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOLLOWED BY A S/WV RIDGE ON THURSDAY WITH ANOTHER S/WV TROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY. EXPECT SOME EDDY DEVELOPMENT ON WEDNESDAY WITH THE EDDY WEAKENING ON THURSDAY...THEN REDEVELOPING THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. EXPECT THE STRATUS/FOG TO MOVE INLAND FROM THE COAST INTO THE INLAND VALLEYS OVERNIGHT THEN BURN BACK TO NEAR THE COAST DURING THE MORNING HOURS. EASTERN PACIFIC SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS CONSIDERABLE AMOUNTS OF HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE MOVING INTO THE COAST AND WILL KEEP HIGH CLOUDS OVER THE AREA THROUGH THE PERIOD AS WELL. MRF AND AVN MODELS BRING ANOTHER S/WV TROUGH THROUGH LATE SATURSDAY INTO SUNDAY FOLLOWED BY A LITTLE STRONGER S/WV TROUGH ON MONDAY SO EXPECT LITTLE CHANGE DURING THE EXTENDED PERIOD. .SAN...NONE. HORTON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2002
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: 5289269.