1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 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 Los Angeles, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 2, 2:12 AM PST, 5 hours 48 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
230 AM PDT MON SEP 2 2002
TODAY WILL BE HOT OFFSHORE GRADIENT PREDICTED AT 12Z ONSHORE FORECAST
FOR 00Z BUT THATS WHAT WAS FORECAST TODAY AND DID NOT HAPPEN. I DO NOT
SEE WHY THERE WOULD BE AN ONSHORE TREND SO WILL KEEP IDEA OF OFFSHROE
ALL DAY LONG. THKNS HGTS ABD BL TEMPS ARE IDENTICLE SO WILL GO FOR
PERSISTENCE TEMPS TODAY. STILL JUST ENOUGH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TO PUSH
HEAT INDEXS TO ADVISORY LEVEL SO WILL KEEP THAT. GENEVIEVE H20 WILL
CONTINUE ALTHOUGH DIMINSIHED FROM SUNDAY SO WILL KEEP TSRA IN MTNS A
LITTLE MORE SW FETCH WILL OPEN SBA MTNS TO TSRA CHC ALSO.
OFFSHORE FLOW CONTINUED FORECAST INTO TUESDAY I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH
EVEN THE PATCHY WORDING. WILL ONLY KEEP IT IN L.A. COUNTY SOME COOLING
TUESDAY AS THKNS FALLS OFF AND GRADIENTS TREND A LITTLE ON SHORE BUT
IT WILL STILL BE WARM.
WEDNESDAY LIFE GETS INTERESTING AS A TROF FORMS OVER THE WEST AND
SCOOPS UP MOISTURE FROM HURRICANE HENRON NEW AVN KEEPS THIS FLOW GOING
INTO FRIDAY SO WILL KEEP FRI LIKE THU WITH CLOUDS AND A CHANCE OF
RAIN. NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF DYNAMICS THOUGH SO THINK SLIGHT CHANCE OF
RAIN IS BEST IT JUST LOOK LIKE A BIG SLUG OF MOISTURE AT THIS MOMENT.
RESIDULE MOISTURE LINGERS SAT AND SUN AND COULD BE ENOUGH TO TRIGGER
SOME MTN TSRA PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ELSEWHERE. SURFACE GRAIDENTS STILL
LOOK PRETTY OFFSHORE SO WILL BACK OFF ON MARINE LAYER OVER THE
WEEKEND.
MRF CONTINUES TO BRING IN LOTS OF TROPICAL MOISTURE THROUGH THE
PERIOD SO AT LEAST CHANCE OF MTN SHOWERS FOR A WHILE.
LAX 000. RORKE.
.LOX...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK (LAXSPSLOX).
EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING (LAXNPWLAX).
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY (LAXCWFLOX).The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Freeway Fire burned over 1,100 acres of land in the Angeles National Forest. The Freeway Fire closed down Interstate 5 for several hours, but no injuries or deaths were reported.
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, September 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: 5316895.