Heat in California, July 23, 2002

Name: Heat in California, July 23, 2002
Start: 2002-07-23T12:30
End: 2002-07-23T16:20
Location: California

July 23, 2002 · NWS SGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A young girl, left inside a van, died from heat stroke. Outside air tempertures reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit.

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: 1
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.

A young girl, left inside a van, died from heat stroke. Outside air tempertures reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit.

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 23, 2:25 AM PST, 10 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 2:25 AM PST, 10 hours 5 minutes before

EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
325 AM PDT TUE JUL 23 2002

.SYNOPSIS...BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE AND MONSOONAL FLOW WILL BRING
WARMER WEATHER AND A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE MOUNTAINS AND
DESERTS THROUGH THURSDAY. PATCHY NIGHT AND MORNING LOW CLOUDS WILL
OCCUR NEAR THE COAST. BY THE WEEKEND...A WEAK UPPER TROUGH OF LOW
PRESSURE ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL BRING DRIER AND A LITTLE COOLER
WEATHER WITH MORE EXTENSIVE COASTAL LOW CLOUDS.

.DISCUSSION...MONSOONAL MSTR CONTINUES TO MAKE SLOW PROGRESS TO THE
WEST. THOUGH MSTR IS LIMITED...THERE MAY BE ENOUGH FOR A FEW
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MTNS THIS AFTERNOON. MSTR INCREASES A LTL FOR
WED WITH A LTL GREATER COVERAGE POSSIBLE. AFTER WED...THE TROUGH TO
THE NW BEGINS TO AMPLIFY ALG THE W CST. THIS SHOULD BRING DRYING AND
SOME COOLING THRU THE WEEKEND AS WELL AS A GREATER RETURN OF CSTL
LOW CLOUDS.

.SAN...NONE.

MARTIN

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, X Sw San Bernardino

When: July 23, 12:30 PM PST to 4:20 PM PST
Where: X Sw San Bernardino forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 34.293, -116.086 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heat, X Sw San Bernardino	2002-07-23	3	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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: 5303533.