Wildfire in California, July 22, 2002

Name: Wildfire in California, July 22, 2002
Start: 2002-07-22T14:57
End: 2002-07-22T15:00
Location: California

July 22, 2002 · NWS SGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Strong winds and extremely dry conditions fanned a house fire. As a result five outbuildings were destroyed.

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: $55,000
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.

Strong winds and extremely dry conditions fanned a house fire. As a result five outbuildings were destroyed.

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 Jul 22, 1:30 PM PST, 1 hour 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 22, 1:30 PM PST, 1 hour 27 minutes before

EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
230 PM PDT MON JUL 22 2002

.SYNOPSIS...BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE AND MONSOONAL FLOW WILL BRING
WARMER WEATHER AND SOME THUNDERSTORMS TO THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS
THROUGH THURSDAY. BY NEXT WEEKEND...A WEAK UPPER TROUGH OF LOW
PRESSURE WILL BRING DRY AND COOLER WEATHER.

.DISCUSSION...STRATUS DECK HAS BUSTED UP AND DO NOT SEE UNIFORM
CLOUDS MOVING ASHORE UNTIL MAYBE SUNDAY...BUT VERY LIMITED CSTL
CLOUDS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE. HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT BUILDS WWD INTO
SOCAL WITH THE RIDGE AXIS N OF SOCAL...PUTTING SOCAL IN MOIST
MONSOONAL ELY FLOW. THIS MOISTURE AND A WEAK DISTURBANCE OVER SONORA
FCST TO MOVE W INTO N BAJA TUE. THIS WILL PRODUCE A LITTLE
CONVECTION AND MAYBE A FEW TSTORMS TUE OVER THE MTNS...ESPECIALLY
SAN CO MTNS. MORE MOISTURE MOVES IN WED SO THE POPS GO HIGHER IN
MTNS AND THE CHANCE OF TSTORMS IS INTRODUCED IN THE DESERTS. A SMALL
CHANCE THAT A SHOWER COULD STRAY WWD FROM MTNS WED...SO ADDED SLIGHT
CHANCE MENTION IN VALLEY ZONES. ETA RUNS MUCH DRIER THAN AVN. ETA
K-F MODEL DOES SHOW BAJA SPINE TSTORMS TUE RIGHT UP TO THE
BORDER...AND TSTORMS ALL OVER MTNS/DESERTS WED. AVN MODEL HANGS ON
TO SOME MOISTURE THU SO SOME TSTORMS SHOULD CONTINUE. BY FRI A WEAK
UPPER TROUGH SLIDES DOWN THE W CST INTO CENTRAL CA...THE UPPER FLOW
TURNS SW AND THE MOISTURE GOES BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM. IT WILL
STILL BE HOT FRI...MAYBE THE HOTTEST DAY OF THEM ALL SINCE CLOUDS
WILL DECREASE. THE LOW SLOWLY CONTINUES SWD SO INLAND TEMPS WILL
DECREASE ONLY SLIGHTLY OVER THE WEEKEND. AT THE CST...MARINE LAYER
WILL RETURN AND TEMPS WILL GET BACK TO NEAR NORMAL.

.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 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, San Bernardino

When: July 22, 2:57 PM PST to 3:00 PM PST
Where: San Bernardino County, Hesperia
Property damage: $55,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 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: 5303542.