High winds whipped up dust across the deserts, reducing visibility to zero along all major highways.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
High winds whipped up dust across the deserts, reducing visibility to zero along all major highways. The winds also flipped over a Semi-tractor trailer in the Coachella Valley and tore a roof off a Community College building
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 Mar 13, 3:30 AM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 330 AM PST WED MAR 13 2002 .SYNOPSIS...A BROAD TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE WEST BRINGING COOLER AND BREEZY CONDITIONS TO SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA INTO NEXT WEEK. WINDS WILL BE STRONGEST TODAY THROUGH THIS EVENING IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. A COLD UPPER LEVEL LOW MOVING SOUTHWARD ALONG THE WEST COAST MAY BRING SHOWERS TO SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA LATE SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. .DISCUSSION...A BROAD TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP OVER THE WEST TODAY AND CONTINUE INTO NEXT WEEK. THE LEAD SHORTWAVE WL MOVE ACROSS SRN CA THIS MORNING BRINGING SHARPLY COOLER TEMPERATURES TO INLAND AREAS AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS TO THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. MOST GUIDANCE KEEPS WINDS JUST BLO HIGH WIND LVLS...SO A WIND ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MOST MTN AND DESERT AREAS THRU THIS EVENING XCP FOR THE SNA MTNS AND THE LWR DESERTS WHERE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN JUST BLO ADV LVLS. ADDITIONAL WKR SHORTWAVES WL FOLLOW THRU SAT REINFORCING THE COOLER AIR AND BRINGING OCCASIONAL PDS OF STRONGER WINDS...MOSTLY BLO ADV LVLS. FOR NOW...THESE SHORTWAVES ARE EXPECTED TO BE DRY. ITS POSSIBLE...HOWEVER ONE COULD DIG JUST FAR ENOUGH W TO PICK UP SOME PAC MSTR AND BRING A FEW SHOWERS TO SW CA. THE BIGGEST ADJUSTMENT TO THE PACKAGE HAS BEEN IN THE EXTENDED WITH THE MRF/ECMWF NOW BRINGING A COLD CLOSED UPR LOW SOUTHWARD ALG THE WRN NOAM CST FM AK TODAY...TO SRN CA LATE SUNDAY THRU TUE. IF THIS VERIFIES...THIS WOULD BRING SHOWERS TO SW CA SUN NIGHT INTO TUE. FOR CSTL AREAS...A COASTAL EDDY WILL BRING EXTENSIVE LOW CLOUDS AND PATCHY FOG TO AREAS ALG AND W OF THE MTNS THIS MORNING. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE MARINE LYR HAS DEEPENED TO AROUND 3000 FT WITH SOME ADDITIONAL DEEPENING LIKELY THIS MORNING. AS THE COLD AIR ALF ARRIVES THIS MORNING...THIS WL BEGIN TO ERODE THE MARINE INVERSION...EVENTUALLY BREAKING THE INVERSION AND ALLOWING SKIES TO BECOME PARTLY CLOUDY THIS AFTERNOON. CSTL WTRS...IN ADDITION TO THE STRONG GUSTY WINDS OVR THE MTNS AND DESERTS. WINDS WL INCR TO NEAR GALE CRITERIA AROUND SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND AND FARTHER OFFSHORE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...GRADUALLY DECRG OVERNIGHT. .SAN...WIND ADVISORY...SEE LAXNPWSAN. MARTIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind, 2 dust storm. 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, March 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: 5281714, 5281713, 5281715, 5281712.