Lightning started a wildfire in the Mt. Diablo Range between Gilroy and Brentwood that raged through the end of the month and into September.
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 episode as NWS MTR wrote it up.
Lightning started a wildfire in the Mt. Diablo Range between Gilroy and Brentwood that raged through the end of the month and into September. Four injuries were reported and a total of 30,180 acres were burned. One outbuilding was destroyed.
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 Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 25, 7:30 PM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA 830 PM PDT MON AUG 25 2003 INLAND AREAS REPORTED MAX TEMPERATURES A FEW DEGREES ABOVE SUNDAYS WARM LEVELS AS CA CONTINUED UNDER THE WESTERN FLANK OF A LARGE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE THAT ESSENTIALLY COVERS THE SOUTHERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES. HOWEVER...MOST COASTAL AREAS COOLED TODAY AS A SLIGHTLY STRONGER ONSHORE SURFACE GRADIENT PRODUCED AN EARLIER AND STRONGER SEABREEZE. ALSO...A MINI SOUTHERLY SURGE EVENT BROUGHT COASTAL FOG UP THE BIG SUR COAST AND INTO MONTEREY BAY BRIEFLY THIS AFTERNOON...RESULTING IN A 13 DEGREE COOLDOWN IN WATSONVILLE. FORECAST ISSUES THIS EVENING INVOLVE EXTENT OF COASTAL FOG/STRATUS THE NEXT FEW DAYS...THE DEGREE TO WHICH COOL MARINE AIR WILL ADVANCE INLAND...AND THE POSSIBILITY OF CONVECTION. CONVECTION... WATER VAPOR SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE PLUME...ADVANCING NORTHWARD BETWEEN THE UPPER RIDGE AXIS TO OUR EAST AND A WEAK UPPER LOW OFF THE CENTRAL CA COAST...HAD SPREAD OVER MOST OF CA BY EARLY EVENING. CONVECTION THUS FAR HAS BEEN LIMITED TO AREAS WELL TO OUR SOUTH AND EAST IN AREAS OF GREATER INSTABILITY AND MOISTURE. HIGH CLOUDS HAVE SPREAD OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN HALF OF OUR CWA...BUT THUS FAR THERE HAS NOT BEEN ANY TRIGGER TO INITIATE ELEVATED CONVECTION OVER OUR REGION. THE ETA AND GFS FORECAST THE MID LEVELS TO BECOME INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE TONIGHT AND INTO TUESDAY MORNING AS THE WEAK CIRCULATION OFFSHORE LIFTS TO THE NE AS AN OPEN SHORTWAVE TROUGH AND ENCOUNTERS THE MOISTURE PLUME OVER OUR REGION. THE 18Z GFS DEVELOPS SOME LIGHT PRECIP AMOUNTS SOUTH OF SAN JOSE BY 12Z TUESDAY MORNING AND THEN ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA BETWEEN 12Z AND 18Z. THE 00Z ETA...HOWEVER...IS ESSENTIALLY DRY THROUGHOUT THE SAME TIME FRAME...AND HAS BACKED OFF ON PRECIP FORECASTS FROM ITS PAST FEW RUNS. WITH UNCERTAINLY DUE TO MODEL DISPARITIES AND INCONSISTENCIES...WILL CONTINUE TO FORECAST ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE POPS AND LEAVE THE FORECAST AS IT IS. ANY POTENTIAL FOR CONVECTION SHOULD END ONCE THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH PASSES INLAND EARLY TOMORROW EVENING AND THE FLOW TURNS TO A MUCH DRIER WSW DIRECTION. FOG/STRATUS... COASTAL FOG RETREATED BACK TO THE SOUTH DOWN THE MONTEREY COUNTY COAST EARLY THIS EVENING AS N-S SURFACE GRADIENTS RAMPED BACK UP A BIT. THE ETA CONTINUES TO INSIST THAT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL INCREASE UP THE COAST FROM SOUTH TO NORTH TONIGHT AS A WEAK SURFACE TROUGH DEVELOPS NORTH OF POINT REYES. GIVEN THE PRESENT PRESSURE PATTERN...BELIEVE IT IS UNLIKELY WE WILL SEE FOG MAKE IT ANY FURTHER N THAN THE GOLDEN GATE TONIGHT SO PRESENT GRIDS/ZONES LOOK OK. IN ANY EVENT...COASTAL FOG AND STRATUS SHOULD INCREASE ALONG THE ENTIRE COAST BY TUESDAY NIGHT AS GRADIENTS BECOME INCREASINGLY ONSHORE. AT THE SAME TIME...AS THE UPPER RIDGE WEAKENS...THE RELATIVELY SHALLOW MARINE LAYER WILL DEEPEN...ALLOWING MARINE AIR TO MOVE FURTHER INLAND AND RESULT IN COOLER... TEMPERATURES... TEMPERATURES SHOULD FALL IN MOST AREAS ON TUESDAY AS MARINE AIR RUSHES INLAND. MOST SUBSTANTIAL COOLING WILL BE IN COASTAL VALLEYS. TEMPS WILL LIKELY DROP A BIT FURTHER ON WEDNESDAY AS MARINE AIR CONTINUES TO INFILTRATE FURTHER INLAND. BUT TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK...TEMPS SHOULD WARM BACK UP AS HEIGHTS RISE UNDER SHORTWAVE RIDGING ALOFT AND ONSHORE GRADIENTS WEAKEN PER THE GFS. STS 0000 SFO/SJC 1100 LVK 2210 MRY 1210. DYKEMA .SFO...TNGT...SCA...PT ARENA TO PIGEON PT FROM 20-60 NM AND SFO BAY.
CAZ005>010-065-074-075-261300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO CA 600 AM PDT MON AUG 25 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA AND THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST. .DAY ONE...TODAY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP BY TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY OVER SAN BENITO AND MONTEREY COUNTIES...AS A BATCH OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE SIDESWIPES THE AREA FROM THE SOUTH. GREATEST CHANCES FOR MEASURABLE RAIN AND LIGHTNING STRIKES SHOULD OCCUR OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM THREAT WILL CONTINUE TUESDAY INTO TUESDAY NIGHT...AND WILL SPREAD UP INTO THE BAY AREA AS WELL. THIS MOISTURE WILL BE CARRIED QUICKLY EASTWARD OUT OF THE REGION BY WEDNESDAY... WITH NO FURTHER HAZARDOUS WEATHER OCCURRENCES EXPECTED THE REST OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2003
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: 5375225.