Wildfire, Orange
- When
- May 14, 4:09 PM PST to 4:30 PM PST
- Where
- Orange County, 2 mi SW of Los Alimitos
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 33.677, -117.776 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in California, May 14, 2002
Brush fire.
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.
Brush fire.
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 May 14, 1:00 PM PST, 3 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 14, 1:00 PM PST, 3 hours 9 minutes before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 200 PM PDT TUE MAY 14 2002 .SYNOPSIS...THE COOLING THAT OCCURRED TODAY WILL CONTINUE WEDNESDAY AS WEAK LOW PRESSURE MOVES ACROSS THE WESTERN STATES. STRONG ONSHORE FLOW AND A COASTAL EDDY WILL DEEPEN THE MARINE LAYER FOR MORE COASTAL CLOUDS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. SLIGHTLY WARMER FRIDAY WITH WEAK HIGH PRESSURE REBUILDING OVER THE SOUTHWEST. .DISCUSSION...A COASTAL EDDY AND STRONGER ONSHORE FLOW BROUGHT COOLER WEATHER FROM THE COAST TO THE MTNS TODAY. WHILE TEMPS WENT DOWN...THE DEWPOINTS WENT UP AS THE MOIST MARINE AIR SPREAD WESTWARD. A SMALL POCKET OF CLOUDS FORMED OVER LA JOLLA AND PT LOMA THIS AFTERNOON...AND MORE MARINE LAYER CLOUDS WERE FORMING OVER THE OPEN WATERS. THE MARINE LAYER WILL CONTINUE TO DEEPEN AND MARINE LAYER CLOUDS WILL SPREAD FARTHER INLAND EACH OF THE NEXT TWO NIGHTS...THEN CLEAR BACK TO COAST EACH AFTERNOON. ONLY THE DESERTS AND THE HIGHER MTN OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY WARMED TO YESTERDAYS LEVELS...BUT COOLING WILL REACH THESE AREAS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS HEIGHTS AND THICKNESSES LOWER WITH THE APPROACHING LOW PRESSURE TROF. IT WILL ALSO BE BREEZY EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH STRONGER PRESSURE GRADIENTS AND NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. BRIEF RIDGE BUILDS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY RESULTING IN LIGHTER WINDS...WEAKER ONSHORE FLOW AND SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPS. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...A HIGH AMPLITUDE PATTERN SETS UP ACROSS THE COUNTRY THIS WEEKEND WITH A DEEP CLOSED LOW OVER EASTERN CANADA...A RIDGE OVER THE PLAINS...AND A TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC. HEIGHTS REMAIN FAIRLY HIGH OVER SOCAL SATURDAY AND SUNDAY IN THE CYCLONIC FLOW AHEAD OF THE EAST PAC LOW AND TEMPS WILL BE SEASONABLE. THEN EARLY NEXT WEEK THE AVN AGGRESSIVELY PUSHES THE TROF AXIS ACROSS CA FOR WHAT WOULD BE A COOL...BREEZY PERIOD WITH RAIN AND SNOW REACHING ALL THE WAY TO SOUTH-CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. BUT SYSTEMS OF THIS MAGNITUDE RARELY REACH SOCAL IN THE 4TH WEEK OF MAY SO WILL TAKE A MORE RESTRAINED APPROACH IN THE LONG RANGE PERIOD WITH DRY...BREEZY AND COOLER WEATHER MONDAY AND TUESDAY. .SAN...NONE. MOEDE
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Damaging Winds in West Virginia, May 14, 2002
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Maryland, May 14, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 14, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Pennsylvania, May 14, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Virginia, May 14, 2002
- High Wind in New York, May 14, 2002
- Flooding in Arkansas, May 14 to 24, 2002
- Flooding in Tennessee, May 14 to 24, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 14, 2002
- Damaging Wind in District of Columbia, May 14, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in West Virginia, May 14, 2002
- Tornado in Florida, May 14, 2002
More
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 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: 5291431.