1 wildfire, 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 11, 1:55 PM PST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 255 PM PDT SUN JUL 11 2004 .SHORT TERM...FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...THIS MORNING/S LOW-LEVEL SOUNDING FOR FRESNO SHOWED A WARMER AIRMASS THAN SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH 4500 FEET...WITH THE STRONGEST WARMING /+7 F/ AT 1500 FEET. THROUGH MOST OF THE MORNING...FRESNO RAN 8-9 DEGREES F WARMER THAN 24 HOURS EARLIER...THEN THE WARMING TREND SLOWED DOWN TOWARD MIDDAY...WITH FRESNO UP BY ONLY 4 DEGREES AT NOON. THE COASTAL MARINE LAYER LOWERED TO 1000 FEET EARLY THIS MORNING... THEN REBOUNDED TO 1200 FEET BEFORE THE BUILDING RIDGE FLATTENED IT BACK TO A DEPTH OF 1000 FEET AT 1734Z.. SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS REMAINED LIGHT AT MIDDAY...WITH SAN FRANCISCO-LAS VEGAS NEARLY STEADY AT 4.7 MB AND SAN FRANCISCO-SACRAMENTO DOWN TO 1.0 MB. 19Z WINDS AT TRAVIS AFB WERE VARIABLE AT 6 KTS...SO NO THREAT OF ANY ONSHORE PUSH THROUGH THE SACRAMENTO DELTA. SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW THE UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHERN STATES EXTENDING FROM THE FOUR-CORNERS REGION EAST TO THE ATLANTIC SEABOARD. THE UPPER-LEVEL LOW THAT HAD BEEN OFF THE WASHINGTON COAST IS RIDING UP THE RIDGE...AND IS NOW IN SOUTHEASTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA. ANOTHER UPPER-LEVEL LOW IS DROPPING OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA AND IS PRESENTLY NEAR 48N/142W. THIS LOW IS DROPPING INTO THE TROUGH OFF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND WILL KEEP THE TROUGH OFFSHORE FOR A SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR FOR DRY WEATHER THROUGH THE PERIOD. FOR MONDAY...AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH OVER NEW ENGLAND AND THE MID- ATLANTIC STATES WILL PUSH THE RIDGE CENTER WEST INTO THE FOUR- CORNERS REGION AND RESULT IN SOME AMPLIFICATION OF THE RIDGE AS IT BECOMES WEDGED BETWEEN THAT TROUGH AND THE ONE IN THE EAST PACIFIC. FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...THIS WILL CAUSE A SLIGHT /ABOUT 10 METERS/ RISE IN 500-MB HEIGHTS OVER THE REGION. 1000- 500-MB THICKNESSES LIKEWISE ARE FORECAST TO RISE OVER THE REGION... BY ABOUT 10-20 METERS. ALOFT...850-MB TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO INCREASE BY ABOUT 2 C. FOR TUESDAY...THE UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WILL BE FLANKED BY TWO DEEPENING TROUGHS...THE EAST COAST TROUGH DIGGING INTO THE CAROLINAS AND THE EAST PACIFIC TROUGH DIGGING ALONG 137W. THIS WILL CONTINUE TO AMPLIFY THE RIDGE NORTH AND SOUTH...WITH THE 5880-METER 500-MB HEIGHT LINE PUSHING NORTH INTO MONTANA. HOWEVER...THE OFFSHORE TROUGH WILL LIMIT THE WESTWARD BUILDING OF THE RIDGE...WITH THE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH ONLY ANOTHER 10-METER RISE IN 500-MB HEIGHTS. THE MODELS DISAGREE ON CHANGES IN 1000-500-MB THICKNESSES FOR TUESDAY...WITH THE 00Z ECMWF AND 12Z GFS SHOWING NO CHANGE... WHILE THE ETA AND THE NEW 12Z UKMET INCREASES THICKNESSES BY ANOTHER 10 METERS. THE MODELS FORECAST LESS WARMING AT 850 MB THAN FOR MONDAY...WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING ONLY BY A DEGREE C. FOR WEDNESDAY...THE RIDGE AMPLIFICATION IS FORECAST TO FINALLY OVERCOME THE EFFECTS OF THE PACIFIC TROUGH...WITH THE 5880-METER HEIGHT LINE PUSHING NORTH FROM THE SACRAMENTO DELTA TO NEAR REDDING AS 500-MB HEIGHTS OVER THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR CLIMB TO 5910 METERS. THE GFS FORECASTS ANOTHER 20-METER INCREASE IN 1000-500-MB THICKNESSES...BUT THE ECMWF HOLDS THICKNESSES CONSTANT. THE GFS ALSO FORECASTS ANOTHER DEGREE C WARMING AT 850 MB. CONCERNING TEMPERATURES...WILL GO WITH A 2-3 DEGREE WARMING FOR MONDAY OVER TODAY...THEN 1-2 DEGREES WARMING DAILY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THE ONLY OTHER CONCERN IS THE THREAT OF TROPICAL MOISTURE WRAPPING AROUND THE RIDGE AND INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BY MIDWEEK. BOTH THE ETA AND GFS BRING MID-LEVEL /700-500-MB/ MOISTURE INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BY 00Z WEDNESDAY...WITH THE NEW 18Z ETA RUN EVEN MOISTER THAN THE 12Z RUN. LIKELY WILL SEE SOME CLOUDS OVER THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS TUESDAY NIGHT...WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES WEDNESDAY SPREADING INTO THE KERN AND TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS. IF THE MODELS GO MUCH STRONGER WITH THE MID-LEVEL MOISTURE WITH THE NEXT FEW RUNS...MIGHT HAVE TO CONSIDER POPS FOR THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE HANFORD WARNING/ FORECAST AREA ON WEDNESDAY. WILL WAIT FOR THE NEXT FULL MODEL SUITE BEFORE MAKING THAT DECISION. .LONG TERM...FOR THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE OVERALL SYNOPTIC PATTERN. A 500MB RIDGE CENTERED OVER THE FOUR CORNERS REGION WILL STRENGTHEN AND BUILD WESTWARD PROVIDING DRY AND STABLE CONDITIONS INTO WEDNESDAY. HOWEVER...THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT WILL BE HOW MUCH SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE MOVES NORTHWARD INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BY THURSDAY. THE LATEST RUN ETA IS TRENDING TOWARDS THE GFS SOLUTION WHICH BRINGS INCREASING AMOUNTS OF MID TO UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE INTO THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DESERTS THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. MODELS SHOW A TROPICAL WAVE WILL MOVE WESTWARD ACROSS NORTHERN MEXICO WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. THINK THE SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL BRING THE MOISTURE INTO THE SOUTHERN SECTORS OF OUR COUNTY WARNING AREA. HENCE WILL INCREASE CLOUD COVER THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. GFS HINTING AT AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING NORTHWARD THROUGH SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA THURSDAY. IF THIS PANS OUT...THERE COULD BE NIGHT TIME THUNDER ACTIVITY ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT THURSDAY NIGHT. IN CONCURRENCE WITH ADJACENT WFO/S...WILL WAIT ANOTHER MODEL RUN BEFORE INTRODUCING THREAT OF TSTMS. THE PATTERN BECOMES MORE PROGRESSIVE TOWARDS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OVER THE WEEKEND AND SHOULD WEAKEN THE 4CORNERS RIDGE BRINGING A SLIGHT COOLING TREND BY SUNDAY. && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SANGER/VASQUEZ
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Gatos fire was of unknown origin and burned 800 acres. There were no injuries or fatalities although one outbuilding was destroyed and another damaged.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 2004
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: 5405922.