Breakers between 8 and 15 feet continued for several days. Beach erosion and minor flooding occurred from Mission Beach to Imperial Beach.
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.
Breakers between 8 and 15 feet continued for several days. Beach erosion and minor flooding occurred from Mission Beach to Imperial Beach. A 20 foot boat was slammed onto the jetty at the Oceanside Harbor entrance, and a surfer was trapped in a sea cave along Sunset Cliffs.
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 Jan 8, 4:20 AM PST, 3 hours 40 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 420 AM PST TUE JAN 8 2002 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. THE TRACK OF THE SYSTEM...WHICH WILL LIKELY BE TO OUR SOUTHWEST...AND SOMEWHAT LIMITED MOISTURE WILL KEEP PRECIPITATION CHANCES SMALL TO NONE ON WEDNESDAY. OFFSHORE FLOW IS EXPECTED AGAIN LATE IN THE WEEK. .DISCUSSION...CUTOFF LOW MAKING THE FORECAST TRICKY. LATEST MRF COMPLETELY REMOVES ANY IDEA OF PRECIP AND EVEN CLOUDS FOR WED OR THU. WILL KEEP SOME HIGH CLOUDS IN...BUT WILL CHANGE FORECAST TO ZERO CHANCE OF PRECIP FROM SLIGHT. MODELS CONSISTENT WITH MODERATE OFFSHORE EVENT THU WITH 12 MB OFFSHORE PGRADS UNDER SUNNY SKIES. COLD AIR ADV SHOULD BE COMPENSATED BY WARMING SUBSIDENCE WEST OF THE MTS...BUT UPPER DES AND MTS WILL TURN COLDER THU-WKND. CUTOFF LOW SHOULD WANDER SOUTH AND STAY OFFSHORE...THEN DRIFT ACROSS N BAJA ON THE WEEKEND. OFFSHORE FLOW WEAKENS TO 8 MB FRI AND 4 MB ON SAT. GRADUAL COOLING TREND OVER THE WEEKEND AS HEIGHTS SLOWLY FALL. A LONG WAVE TROF TAKES UP RESIDENCE MON THRU THU OF NEXT WEEK GIVING US MOSTLY COOL 558-564 COOL CYCLONIC W-SW FLOW FOR MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND OCCASIONAL CHANCES FOR LIGHT PRECIP OR DRIZZLE. MARINE LAYER AND ONSHORE FLOW SHOULD INCREASE AND TEMPS WILL ONLY BE IN 60S W OF MTS. LONG RANGE MRF HINTS AT THE LONG WAVE TROF CUTTING BACK TOWARDS HAWAII UNDER AN ANOMALOUS 584 UPPER HIGH OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA. THIS COULD SIGNAL A SOUTHERN BRANCH BREAKTRHU AND A CHANCE FOR SIGNIFICANT RAIN BY JAN 21. BUT USUALLY THE FIRST ATTEMPT BY THE CUTBACK DOESNT DIG BACK FAR ENUF TO TAP A DEEP PLUME OF SBTRPCL MOISTURE. SO PERHAPS ANOTHER SUCH PATTERN WILL TOWARDS EARLY FEB. .SAN...MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT FOR HEAVY SURF...SEE LAXMWSSAN. MACKECHNIE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high surf. 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, January 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: 5277528.