Flash Flood, Siskiyou
- When
- July 23, 8:52 PM PST to 10:48 PM PST
- Where
- Siskiyou County, Callahan
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 41.593, -122.540 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
See below.
Flash Flood in California, July 23, 2003
Radar reports showed an area of persistant thunderstorm development over a single basin southeast of Callahan and west of Mount Shasta City. This, combined with a strongly worded report from the Satellite Analysis branch, formed the basis for a Flash Flood Warning for this area.
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 MFR wrote it up.
Radar reports showed an area of persistant thunderstorm development over a single basin southeast of Callahan and west of Mount Shasta City. This, combined with a strongly worded report from the Satellite Analysis branch, formed the basis for a Flash Flood Warning for this area. No verifying reports were received as this was a very sparsely populated area.
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 Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 23, 7:30 PM PST, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 7:30 PM PST, 1 hour 22 minutes before
SOUTHWEST OREGON AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD, OR 830 PM PDT WED JUL 23 2003 00Z NGM IN. 00Z ETA IN THRUGH 54HR. SO MUCH FOR MY PREDICTION LAST NIGHT OF LESS THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TODAY. LOTS OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING OVER SISKIYOU...MODOC...LAKE...AND KLAMATH COUNTIES. TWO OVER SISKIYOU/MODOC COUNTIES WARRANTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS. ACTIVITY IS NOW WINDING DOWN...BUT LIGHTNING OBS AND RADAR STILL SHOW PLENTY OF ACTIVITY OVER SISKIYOU AND SOUTHERN KLAMATH COUNTIES...AND SOME ISOLATED ACTIVITY OVER LAKE AND MODOC COUNTIES. CURRENT FORECAST FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY STILL CALLS FOR AN EASTWARD SHIFT IN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AS WELL AS DIMINISHING NUMBERS. THIS LOOKS PLAUSIBLE AS THE SOUTHWEST U.S. HIGH WILL SHIFT EAST AND A WEAK TROUGH TO THE WEST WILL ALLOW FLOW ALOFT TO SHIFT MORE SOUTHWESTERLY...PUSHING THE MONSOONAL MOISTURE SOUTH AND EAST. HOWEVER...THE HIGH WILL RETROGRADE BEGINNING SATURDAY...INDICATING ANOTHER ROUND OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE EARLY NEXT WEEK. .MFR...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY...FLORENCE OR TO PT ST GEORGE CA. STOCKTON
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jul 23, 5:23 PM PST, 3 hours 29 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OREGON
623 PM PDT WED JUL 23 2003
TIME(PDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0611 PM WEED CA .75 INCH HAIL
07/23/03 SISKIYOU SPOTTER SY39...6 MILES
WEST OF BLACK
BUTTE...REPORTED 3/4 INCH
HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN.The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
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
- Damaging Wind and Lightning Strike in Texas, July 23, 2003
- Heat in Oklahoma, July 23, 2003
- Flash Flooding in New York, July 23, 2003
- Wildfire in California, July 23 to 28, 2003
- Flash Flood and Damaging Winds in Texas, July 23, 2003
- Flash Flood in Ohio, July 23, 2003
- Flooding in Ohio, July 23, 2003
- Damaging Wind in California, July 23, 2003
- Flood in Pennsylvania, July 23, 2003
- Damaging Wind in South Carolina, July 23, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Texas, July 23, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Maryland, July 23, 2003
More
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 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: 5373029.