Flash Flood, Riverside
- When
- August 27, 1:30 PM PST to 2:07 PM PST
- Where
- Riverside County, Desert Hot Spgs
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in California, August 27, 2003
Highway 62 flooded.
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.
Highway 62 flooded.
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 Aug 27, 1:00 PM PST, 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 27, 1:00 PM PST, 30 minutes before
EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA 200 PM PDT WED AUG 27 2003 .SYNOPSIS...MONSOONAL MOISTURE WILL REMAIN OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS THROUGH THURSDAY...WITH AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS BRINGING THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. A DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL GRADUALLY BECOME ESTABLISHED FRIDAY...WHICH SHOULD END THE THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND. OTHERWISE...FAIR WITH AREAS OF NIGHT AND MORNING LOW CLOUDS AND FOG NEAR THE COAST. .DISCUSSION...NOT MUCH TIME FOR DISCUSSION HERE. PLENTY OF THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TODAY. FLASH FLOODING WAS REPORTED IN THE CAMPO AREA JUST AFTER NOON. LATEST GFS MODEL SHOWS A TROUGH MOVING OVER THE WEST COAST BY THIS WEEKEND WHICH BRINGS IN A DRY NW FLOW ALOFT. THIS SOLUTION SEEMS TO BE CONFIRMED BY THE UK MODEL AND WAS USED TO DEVELOP THE ZONES FOR THIS AFTERNOON. THIS WILL BE QUITE A CHANGE FROM THE PERSISTENT MONSOON PATTERN...BUT THE MODELS HAVE BEEN HINTING AT THIS FOR A COUPLE OF RUNS NOW. LEFT A SLIGHT CHANCE IN AGAIN FOR MID WEEK PER CLIMATOLOGY AND OLD GFS SOLUTION OF THE FOUR CORNERS RIDGE REBUILDING. IN THE MEANTIME...ETA TIME/HEIGHT CROSS SECTIONS SHOW ENOUGH MOISTURE THU FOR CONTINUED MONSOON ACTIVITY ALBEIT SOMEWHAT MORE MUTED. GOOD PENETRATION OF THE COASTAL STRATUS OVERNIGHT...SO WILL EXPECT MORE THE NEXT FEW NIGHTS AS ONSHORE FLOW IMPROVES A BIT. SAN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH...SEE LAXFLSSGX.
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 27, 5:00 AM PST, 8 hours 30 minutes before
CAZ042-043-048-050-055>058-060>062-281300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 600 AM PDT WED AUG 27 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE... TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .DAY TWO... THURSDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS IN THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .DAYS THREE THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS AND MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY AND THURSDAY.
The radar
The San Diego radar (KNKX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:32 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Lightning Strike in Guam, August 27, 2003
- Flood and Hail in Ohio, August 27, 2003
- Flooding and Hail in Ohio, August 27, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Virginia, August 27, 2003
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Indiana, August 27, 2003
- Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in Alabama, August 27, 2003
- Flood in Ohio, August 27, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 27, 2003
- Damaging Wind in South Dakota, August 27, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Tennessee, August 27, 2003
- Damaging Winds in Iowa, August 27, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Mississippi, August 27, 2003
More
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2003
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: 5369519.