Flood, Orange
- When
- March 23, 11:37 PM PST
- Where
- Orange County, Yorba Linda
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 33.677, -117.776 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood in California, March 23, 2002
Standing water on State Route 91 from heavy rain.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- 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.
Standing water on State Route 91 from heavy rain.
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 Mar 23, 9:55 PM PST, 1 hour 42 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 23, 9:55 PM PST, 1 hour 42 minutes before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 955 PM PST SAT MAR 23 2002 .SYNOPSIS...WEAK DISTURBANCES IN THE FAST NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL BRING SCATTERED SHOWERS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. SUNDAY WILL BE ANOTHER WINDY DAY IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRING WARMER WEATHER AND LESS WIND MONDAY AND TUESDAY. .DISCUSSION...THE NKX EVENING SOUNDING SHOWED A DEEP MOIST LAYER TO 6500 FEET AND ENOUGH INSTABILITY WAS PRESENT TO GENERATE SCATTERED SHOWERS. THE SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT AND INTO SUNDAY AS THE LAST IN A SERIES OF VORTICES DIGS DOWN THE BACKSIDE OF THE WEST COAST TROF. THE SHORTWAVE WAS FAIRLY EASY TO SEE ON THE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY WEST OF OREGON AT 03Z. THIS VIGOROUS LITTLE SYSTEM WAS PACKING A 300 MB 110 KT SPEED MAX...AND AS IT PASSES OVER SOCAL SUNDAY AFTERNOON IT WILL CONTRIBUTE TO ANOTHER WINDY DAY IN THE MTNS AND DESERTS. THE AVN AND MESO ETA FORECASTS MOST OF THE PRECIP TO END BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON AS A NNW FLOW ADVECTS DRIER AIR INTO THE REGION. BUT THE HIGHER RESOLUTION WORK STATION ETA MODEL FCSTS PRECIP LINGERING INTO THE AFTERNOON...MOSTLY OROGRAPHICALLY ENHANCED PRECIP IN THE SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTY MTNS. IT IS NOT UNREASONABLE TO ASSUME A MORE OVER WATER TRAJECTORY WOULD ADD MORE MOISTURE TO THIS SYSTEM...BUT THERE IS STILL TOO MUCH UNCERTAINTY WITH ITS TRACK TO UPDATE THE ZONES. WILL DISCUSS THESE MODEL DIFFERENCE WITH THE MIDNIGHT SHIFT. THE FORECAST FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY LOOKS ON TRACK WITH WEAK RIDGING OVER THE SOUTHWEST RESULTING IN LIGHTER WINDS AND SLIGHTLY WARMER WEATHER. IN THE LONG RANGE...THE 00Z AVN PROJECTS A CUTOFF LOW TO DEVELOP OFF THE CA COAST WEDNESDAY AS A HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE PACIFIC NW. CUTOFF LOWS ARE NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT TO FORECAST AND LEAD TO A LOW CONFIDENCE EXTENDED FORECAST...BUT GENERALLY HAVE A TENDENCY TO DELAY THE ONSET OF PRECIP IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA A DAY OR TWO BEFORE AN UPSTREAM KICKER PUSHES THE SYSTEM EASTWARD. OVERALL...THE CURRENT FORECAST LOOK GOOD AT THIS TIME. NO UPDATE THIS EVENING. .SAN...NONE. MOEDE
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flood
- Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 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: 5281726.