1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 7:30 PM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 830 PM PDT WED JUL 31 2002 NO UPDATES PLANNED THIS EVENING. RENO AND EDWARDS AFB RADARS, ALONG WITH SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATE THAT THE PREVIOUS ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE SIERRA CREST HAVE SHIFTED EAST INTO MONO COUNTY, THUS THE CURRENT DRY FORECAST FOR TONIGHT APPEARS IN FINE SHAPE FOR THE SIERRA. ADDITIONALLY, I HAVE HAD SOME CONCERN ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF MID AND HIGH CLOUDS THAT MAY REACH THE KERN DESERTS OVERNIGHT AND CONVECTIVE POSSIBILITIES, HOWEVER THE LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE LEADING EDGE IS HAVING A VERY DIFFICULT TIME GETTING NORTHWEST OF A BARSTOW TO BEATTY, NEVADA LINE. EXPECT SOME OF THIS MOISTURE WILL HOWEVER GET TO THE WEST OVERNIGHT AS THE UPPER LOW SPINS AND HEADS SLOWLY WEST OVER NORTHERN BAJA. HAVENT SEEN ANY CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON OVER SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND DONT EXPECT ANY OVERNIGHT AS THE ATMOSPHERE IS PROGGED TO REMAIN STABLE. NOT TOO SURE JUST HOW WELL THE MODELS ARE HANDLING THE UPPER LOW OVER NORTHERN BAJA AND VORT MAXES, BUT THE LATEST MESO ETA BRINGS THE CENTER OF THE LOW WESTWARD ALONG 30N DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS WHILE EJECTING A COUPLE OF VORTICITY CENTERS TOWARDS THE VEGAS AREA. MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY ARE PROJECTED FOR THE SIERRA THURSDAY AFTERNOON, HOWEVER IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE IF CONVECTION IS ALONG OR EAST OF THE CREST. CURRENT FORECAST HAS MENTION OF SOME CUMULUS NEAR THE CREST, BUT THUNDER MAY NEED TO BE ADDED ON THE MID SHIFT? AS FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, JUST ANOTHER SEASONABLY HOT DAY, WITH HAZY SKIES. ONE NOTE IS THE SMOKE FROM THE MCNALLY FIRE HAS NOT BEEN BLOWING TOWARDS THE SJV RATHER HEADING FOR LONE PINE AND VICINITY. WITH THE MODELS SHOWING GOOD AGREEMENT THIS EVENING IN LOWERING HEIGHTS ON THURSDAY AS THE RIDGE WEAKENS AND MOVES EAST, THE CURRENT FORECAST OF JUST SLIGHTLY COOLER MAXES IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK. ADDITIONAL HEIGHT FALLS AND CONTINUED SOUTHWEST FLOW IS PROGGED ON FRIDAY FOR MORE SLIGHT COOLING, OF COURSE THE MARINE LAYER RESPONSE WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED. CURRENT GRIDS AND ZONES INDICATE THIS. ALL IN ALL, THE SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL KEEP THE FORECAST DRY. .HNX...NONE. DUDLEY
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Reference the McNally Fire start data in the July 2002 Stormdata. Total cost of the fire was $45.7M with 14 structures lost and 150,696 acres burned. It was contained on August 29th after starting on July 21st.
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, August 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: 5316336.