Gusty 15-20 knot winds over San Diego Bay and just off Imperial Beach disrupted a Sailing Regatta. Very rough seas were present off the coast, due to the combination of four foot wind waves and an eight foot northwest swells.
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The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
Gusty 15-20 knot winds over San Diego Bay and just off Imperial Beach disrupted a Sailing Regatta. Very rough seas were present off the coast, due to the combination of four foot wind waves and an eight foot northwest swells. Two boats were dismasted, several others sustained breakage, and several crewmen were knocked overboard. So many of the assist boats were busy towing in broken down boats that the race was cancelled
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 16, 3:30 AM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
330 AM PST SAT MAR 16 2002
.SYNOPSIS...COOL NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TODAY. SHOWERS
ARE POSSIBLE...MAINLY NEAR AND OVER THE MOUNTAINS. AN UPPER LEVEL
LOW WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY.
THIS WILL BRING COLDER TEMPERATURES AND MORE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS.
HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE AREA THE REMAINDER OF NEXT WEEK.
THIS WILL BRING A GRADUAL WARMING AND DRYING TREND.
.DISCUSSION...WEAK CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT AND COLD AIR ADVECTION ALOFT
DESTABILIZED AIR MASS YESTERDAY ENOUGH TO GENERATE AFTERNOON SHOWERS
OVER THE MOUNTAINS. WEAK SHORT WAVE THAT THEN MOVED DOWN THE COAST
AND ROUNDED THE BOTTOM OF THE TROUGH...MOVING ACROSS SW CALIFORNIA
AT THIS TIME...INCREASED SHOWERS ACTIVITY AND KICKED OFF
THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE LATE EVENING OVER SAN DIEGO COUNTY/NORTH
BAJA AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS THAT ARE ONGOING AT THIS TIME.
QUESTION NOW IS WILL SUBSIDENCE UNDER WEAK RIDGING FOLLOWING THE
SHORT WAVE PASSAGE THIS MORNING BE ENOUGH TO SUPPRESS AFTERNOON
CONVECTION. ETA/MESOETA...WHICH ARE VERIFYING FAIRLY WELL...SAY
NO...SO WILL KEEP SOME MENTION OF PRECIPITATION MOST ZONES TODAY.
TIMING AND STRENGTH OF NEXT TROUGH IS THE NEXT FORECAST CONCERN.
CURRENT FORECASTS WERE BASED ON TROUGH AXIS MOVING ACROSS REGION
SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY. LATEST RUN OF MRF/AVN HAS TROUGH AXIS EAST OF
CALIFORNIA BY SUNDAY NIGHT...BUT THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF VARIANCE
FROM RUN TO RUN. THE ECMWF IS SLOWER/STRONGER AND SO FAR MOST
CONSISTENT AND PREFERRED. LOWERED SNOW LEVELS/INCREASED POPS SUNDAY
NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY AND REINTRODUCED THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS BASED
ON SECOND SHOT OF COLD AIR THIS MODEL DEPICTS MOVING ACROSS SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA BETWEEN 18/12Z AND 19/12Z. AFTER MONDAY THE MEDIUM RANGE
MODELS ARE BACK IN AGREEMENT...RIDGE BUILDS ALONG 120W LONGITUDE
TUESDAY... THEN RIDGE AXIS SHIFTS EAST ABOUT 5 DEGREES LONGITUDE PER
DAY THROUGH FRIDAY AS TROUGH DEEPENS ALONG 130W LONGITUDE. STILL FAR
ENOUGH WEST TO NOT HAVE TO INCLUDE MENTION OF PRECIPITATION IN DAYS
4 THROUGH 7 AT THIS TIME.
.SAN...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY...PZZ775.
WIND ADVISORY...CAZ060 FROM 10AM PST-9PM PST.
BALFOURThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. 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: 5281727.