Name: Dense Fog in California, February 8, 2002
Start: 2002-02-08T02:50
End: 2002-02-08T02:50
Location: California

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

Visibility near zero in National City.

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 Feb 7, 9:00 PM PST, 5 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 7, 9:00 PM PST, 5 hours 50 minutes before

EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
900 PM PST THU FEB 7 2002

.SYNOPSIS...COASTAL CLOUDS AND FOG WILL SPREAD FARTHER INLAND
TONIGHT AS THE MARINE LAYER DEEPENS. SANTA ANA WEATHER IS FORECAST
THIS WEEKEND AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS OVER UTAH...BRINGING STRONG
WIND TO MOUNTAINS PASSES AND CANYONS.

.DISCUSSION...MARINE LAYER DEPTH WAS AROUND 1200 FEET THURSDAY
EVENING...ABOUT 500 FEET DEEPER THAN WEDNESDAY EVENING...AND THE
MARINE LAYER MOISTURE HAS FINALLY RETURNED TO THE INLAND VALLEYS.
DEWPOINTS THAT HAD BEEN IN THE TEENS AND 20S THE PAST TWO WEEKS WERE
IN THE 40S THIS EVENING...AND AS A RESULT THE OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL
NOT BE AS COLD TONIGHT.

GRADIENTS WILL REMAIN WEAKLY ONSHORE TONIGHT AND MOST OF
FRIDAY...THEN SHIFT OFFSHORE FRIDAY NIGHT AS A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE
BUILDS OVER THE WEST COAST. OUR WEEKEND WEATHER WILL BE DOMINATED BY
THIS RIDGE THAT WILL BRING SANTA ANA WEATHER. TEMPS WILL BE WELL
ABOVE NORMAL WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS...BUT COLD NORTHEAST WINDS AROUND
A 1045 MB HIGH OVER THE GREAT BASIN WILL KEEP TEMPS IN CHECK IN THE
MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS.

HOWEVER...THE BIGGEST WEATHER CONCERN WILL BE THE SANTA ANA WINDS IN
THE CAJON PASS AND THE ORANGE COUNTY MOUNTAINS. THE MODELS ARE
PROJECTING STRONG THERMAL AND PRESSURE GRADIENTS OVER THE WEEKEND
FOR WHAT COULD BE A SIGNIFICANT WIND EVENT IN THESE AREAS.

THIS RIDGE REMAINS INTACT THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...AIDED BY A
DEVELOPING CLOSED UPPER LOW OFF THE CA COAST. THIS LOW WILL SHIFT
OUR GRADIENTS ONSHORE...RESULTING IN COOLER WEATHER BY MIDWEEK.

.SAN...NONE.

MOEDE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.

Dense Fog, X W San Diego

When: February 8, 2:50 AM PST
Where: X W San Diego forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Dense Fog: Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, February 2002

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: 5283585.