1 lightning, 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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 25, 3:22 AM PST, 4 hours 38 minutes earlier.
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 323 AM PDT FRI JUL 25 2003 MOISTURE CONTINUES TO ROTATE AROUND THE LARGE HIGH PRESSURE AREA OVER THE WESTERN US...WHICH RESULTED IN ISOLATED CONVECTION OVER THE HIGH SIERRA INTO THE EVENING HOURS THURSDAY. CURRENTLY SCATTERED CLOUDS ARE DRIFTING NORTH OVER THE DISTRICT WITH SOME ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING EAST OF THE SIERRAS. THE LARGE HIGH IS PROGGED TO DRIFT A BIT TO THE NORTHWEST DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS...CENTERING NEAR NORTHEAST NEVADA. THE MONSOONAL MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE ISOLATED AFTERNOON CONVECTION OVER THE SIERRAS...WITH THE TIMING OF SURGES OF DEEPER MOISTURE DETERMINING PERIODS OF HIGHER COVERAGE ACROSS THE AREA. FOR TODAY...GFS SHUNTS THE MOISTURE CURRENTLY NEAR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EAST OF OUR AREA...WHILE THE ETAS BRING IT NORTH ACROSS THE KERN MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS DO NOT SEEM UNREASONABLE FOR THIS AREA TODAY. ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO BE CONFINED TO THE HIGH SIERRA SATURDAY...THEN SPREADING BACK INTO KERN COUNTY SUNDAY WITH THE NEXT SURGE OF MOISTURE. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE SIMILAR TO YESTERDAYS READINGS FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...MON THRU THUR...THE LONG RANGE MODELS POSITION THE CENTER OF THE UPPER LEVEL HIGH OVER THE GREAT BASIN DURING THE PERIOD...FAR ENOUGH NORTH TO ALLOW ROOM FOR WAVES OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE TO TRACK NORTHWESTWARD INTO CA FROM OLD MEXICO. THE 00Z GFS IS SHOWING GOOD RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY AND FORECASTS A PRETTY HEALTHY MONSOONAL SURGE INTO CENTRAL CA MON NIGHT THRU WED. BY THURSDAY...THIS MODEL SHIFTS THE CENTER OF THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE EASTWARD WITH SUPPOSED MID LEVEL DRYING. HOWEVER...FLOW ALOFT APPEARS TO BE MORE SOUTHERLY THAN WESTERLY...SO HAVE LOW CONFIDENCE IN DRYING TREND FOR THU. HENCE...WILL LEAVE SLIGHT CHC POPS IN OUR MTNS AND DESERT ON DAY 7. CLOUDIER REGIME WILL ALSO CUT DOWN ON MAX TEMPS...SO WILL LEAN TOWARD MOS GUIDANCE IN THE 4 TO 7 DAY PD. HNX...NONE. JEB/DURFEE
CAZ089>099-261130- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 530 AM PDT FRI JUL 25 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA TODAY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTAIN GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA EACH DAY. ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY THERE IS SLIGHT RISK OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE ENTIRE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.
The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:04 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
The Coffeepot Fire was one of five lightning fires in the Tulare County area from thunderstorm activity in the past two weeks in the Tulare County Mountains. The Coffeepot fire damage or cause is not known with no lives or structures reported lost.
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, July 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: 5367316.