Wildfire, San Bernardino
- When
- September 5, 10:20 PM PST to September 6, 7:00 AM PST
- Where
- San Bernardino County, 3 mi N of Lytle Creek
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in California, September 5 to 6, 2002
A one acre brush fire was caused by a burning vehicle.
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.
A one acre brush fire was caused by a burning vehicle.
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 Sep 5, 8:30 PM PST, 1 hour 50 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 5, 8:30 PM PST, 1 hour 50 minutes before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 930 PM PDT THU SEP 5 2002 .SYNOPSIS...TROPICAL MOISTURE FROM THE REMNANTS OF HERNAN WILL BRING SOME SHOWERS TO THE AREA WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS. THE MOISTURE WILL LINGER UNTIL AROUND SATURDAY...THEN WEST FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE TO OUR NORTH WILL BRING CLEARING. .DISCUSSION...SPRINKLES WERE FAIRLY COMMON THIS EVENING AS UPPER-LEVEL MOISTURE WAS HIGH...BUT MOISTURE IN THE LOW LEVELS...LIKE AT 850 MB WAS LOW. IN THE UPDATE...I HAVE CUT POPS TO MOSTLY 20-30 DUE TO THE LACK OF ANY SIGNIFICANT TRIGGER AND TOO LOW OF 850 MB RH. TYPICALLY...WE NEED SIGNIFICANT 850 MB RH TO NECESSITATE POPS ABOVE 50 WEST OF THE MTNS...BUT FOR TONIGHT/FRI...RH VALUES WILL MOSTLY BE IN THE 40-60 PERCENT RANGE. MOST OF THE MOISTURE IS AIMED AT THE AREA FROM SBA TO LAX...AND THE CLASSIC V-SHAPE...MORE COMMON WITH WINTER SYSTEMS...CAN BE SEEN WITH THE MOISTURE/PRECIP ON IR/WV IMAGES TO THE SW AS THAT AREA IS IN A 700-MB THETA-E RIDGE WITH SOME POSITIVE THETA-E ADVECTION PROVIDING SOME LIFT. THE THETA-E RIDGE SHIFTS SE MORE TO OUR AREA FRI...SO THAT WILL BE THE TIME WHEN WE MOST LIKELY WILL SEE PRECIP. HOWEVER...DYNAMICS ARE POOR THEN...SO WE WILL MOSTLY HAVE TO RELY ON INSTABILITY FOR CONVECTION...AND TOO MUCH CLOUD COVER WILL PLACE SOME LIMITS ON THAT. THUS...FLASH FLOODING FROM MTN TSTORMS LOOKS UNLIKELY...BUT LIGHT SHOWERS OR SPRINKLES SHOULD BE COMMON. MOISTURE ALOFT DECREASES SLIGHTLY SATURDAY...EVEN THOUGH OUR OVERALL PATTERN DOES NOT CHANGE MUCH. PRECIP...IF ANY...WILL PROBABLY MOSTLY BE VERY LIGHT...OR COME FROM AN ISOLATED MTN TSTORM. AFTER THE TROUGH PASSES BY TO THE NORTH LATE IN THE WEEKEND...LOOK FOR LIGHT WEST FLOW ALOFT AND SEASONAL WEATHER. THE ZONE UPDATE WAS ISSUED AROUND 9 PM...MOSTLY TO LOWER POPS. .SAN...HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...SEE LAXSPSSGX MAXWELL
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Sep 5, 8:15 PM PST, 2 hours 5 minutes before
CAZ042-043-048-050-055>058-060>062-061200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 915 PM PDT THU SEP 5 2002 ...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INTO SATURDAY... MOISTURE FROM DECAYING TROPICAL DEPRESSION HERNAN...800 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF SAN DIEGO...WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INTO SATURDAY. THIS WILL BRING SCATTERED SHOWERS...MOSTLY LIGHT...WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF A FEW THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH SATURDAY. RAINFALL OF LESS THAN ONE QUARTER INCH IS EXPECTED...WITH MOST AREAS RECEIVING ONLY A FEW HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH. HOWEVER...LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE WHERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR...MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS...AND MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOONS. ALONG THE COAST...THE SURF WILL GRADUALLY SUBSIDE TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. LOCAL SURF HEIGHTS OF 4 TO 6 FEET ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH FRIDAY. MAXWELL
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
- Tropical Storm in Texas, September 5 to 7, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, September 5, 2002
- Flash Flooding in Wisconsin, September 5, 2002
- Lightning Strike in North Carolina, September 5, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Washington, September 5, 2002
- Hail in Minnesota, September 5, 2002
- Lightning Strike in Florida, September 5, 2002
- Extreme Cold in Oregon, September 5 to 6, 2002
- Damaging Winds in Minnesota, September 5, 2002
- Extreme Cold in California, September 5 to 6, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Georgia, September 5, 2002
- Wildfire and Hail in Montana, September 5 to 6, 2002
More
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, September 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: 5316330.