1 wildfire, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 Sep 10, 8:00 PM PST, 4 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 900 PM PDT FRI SEP 10 2004 .UPDATE...FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...A LOW-LEVEL MOUNTAIN WAVE OFF THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON MOVED NORTHEAST ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT. AS THIS WAVE INTERACTED WITH THE ALREADY MOIST...UNSTABLE AIRMASS...IT TRIGGERED SOME CONVECTION ALONG THE PERIPHERY OF THE KERN COUNTY...ALTHOUGH SATELLITE AND RADAR LOOPS INDICATE THAT THE THUNDERSTORMS STAYED JUST OVER THE COUNTY LINES. ISSUED A NOWCAST FOR POSSIBLE OUTFLOW WINDS AND ANY SECONDARY THUNDERSTORMS THAT MIGHT HAVE FORMED NEAR BORON AND RANDSBURG. THE MAIN CONVECTION STAYED WELL EAST AND SOUTH OF THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AND A GENERAL MOVEMENT TO THE NORTHEAST KEPT THE CONVECTIVE THREAT TO THE HANFORD WARNING/FORECAST AREA LOW. WITH THE SETTING OF THE SUN...THE AIRMASS WILL BEGIN TO COOL AND STABILIZE...SO WILL UPDATE THE FORECAST PACKAGE TO REMOVE POPS AND WEATHER FROM TONIGHT. THE 00Z MODELS ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH AN UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH ALONG 127W BY 00Z SUNDAY...WITH AS SERIES OF SHORT-WAVES MOVING THROUGH THE TROUGH. THESE WAVE ARE WEAKENING THE RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES...BRINGING SLIGHTLY COOLER WEATHER TO THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...WHERE HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE DOWN 1-3 DEGREES FROM THURSDAY/S HIGHS. 500-MB HEIGHTS ARE ONLY FORECAST TO FALL ABOUT 10 METERS SATURDAY...BUT THEN DROP 50 METERS SUNDAY. LIKEWISE...1000-500-MB THICKNESSES ARE FORECAST TO FALL BY 10-20 METERS SATURDAY...THEN ANOTHER 20-30 METERS SUNDAY. AT 850 MB...THE GFS AND NGM COOL TEMPERATURES BY 2 DEGREES C OVER THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...WHILE THE ETA HAS NO CHANGE IN 850-MB TEMPERATURES. /THE ETA ALSO HAS HIGHER 500-MB HEIGHTS THAN THE OTHER MODELS AND IS THE WEAKEST IN ERODING THE RIDGE./ FOR SUNDAY...THE NGM HAS ANOTHER 2 DEGREES C COOLING AT 850 MB...WHILE THE ETA AND GFS FORECAST ONLY A 1 DEGREE C DROP. WITH ONLY SLIGHT CHANGES IN 500-MB HEIGHTS AND 1000-500-MB THICKNESSES OVER THE HANFORD WARNING/FORECAST AREA PREDICTED FOR SATURDAY...THE CURRENT FORECAST OF ANOTHER 1-3 DEGREE COOLING SEEM ON TRACK. WILL SEE STRONGER COOLING SUNDAY AS THE MAIN TROUGH ARRIVES AND DEEPENS THE MARINE LAYER...ALLOWING COOL MARINE AIR TO PUSH INTO THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP TO NEAR NORMAL BY MONDAY...AND STAY WITHIN A DEGREE OR TWO OF NORMAL THROUGH THE REST OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. .FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM...FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...EARLY AFTERNOON 24 HOUR TEMPERATURE CHANGE TENDENCIES ARE SLIGHTLY NEGATIVE IN THE VALLEY...AND FAIRLY NEUTRAL ELSEWHERE. HOWEVER...SOME STATIONS WHICH EXPERIENCED GREATER CLOUD COVER YESTERDAY PRIMARILY IN THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS AND MOUNTAINS ARE WARMER. SATPIX INDICATE THAT OTHER THAN A FEW CUMULUS OVER THE HIGH COUNTRY...SKIES ARE SUNNY. THE TAME WEATHER SO FAR THIS AFTERNOON ACTUALLY PRESENTS THE FIRST FORECAST CHALLENGE...POPS OR NO POPS. THE 12Z VERSIONS OF BOTH THE ETA AND GFS BACKED OFF ON CAPE FOR THIS AFTERNOON COMPARED TO THEIR FORMER RUNS...QUITE CONSISTENT WITH THE SITUATION UNFOLDING THUS FAR. HOWEVER...BOTH SOLUTIONS INDICATE A BIT OF VORTICITY RIDING NORTHWARD INTO THE DISTRICT OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS. GIVEN ELEVATED MOISTURE...WILL RETAIN SLIGHT CHANCES FOR THE DESERT AND ADJACENT KERN MOUNTAINS FOR THE EVENING HOURS. OTHERWISE...EXPECT MOST READINGS TO BOTTOM OUT TO LEVELS SIMILAR TO THOSE OF THIS MORNING AS PROFILER/OBSERVATIONAL DATA SUGGEST THE MARINE LAYER IS STILL TOO SHALLOW AND GRADIENTS TOO LIGHT TO HAVE ANYTHING MORE THAN SUBTLE INFLUENCES OVERNIGHT. HAVE ACCORDINGLY MADE UPWARD ADJUSTMENTS TO TOMORROW/S TEMPERATURES TO PUT THEM MORE IN LINE WITH THOSE OF TODAY SINCE TEMPERATURES AND HEIGHTS ALOFT CHANGE LITTLE AND ONSHORE GRADIENTS REMAIN RATHER WEAK. THIS SHOULD PLACE MOST VALLEY READINGS RIGHT AROUND THE CENTURY MARK...OR ALMOST 10 DEGF ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. THE MODELS STILL INSIST ON SOMEWHAT MORE CAPE AND MOISTURE TOMORROW...ALTHOUGH ONCE AGAIN THE DEPICTIONS ARE A DOWNGRADE FROM EARLIER RUNS. HAVE TRIMMED BACK POPS SLIGHTLY FROM THE LAST FORECAST...BUT WILL MAINTAIN THE OUTSIDE CHANCE FOR NOW. A MORE PRONOUNCED IMPULSE IS PROJECTED TO DIVE INTO THE PACNW SUNDAY WHICH SHOULD RAMP UP THE MARINE LAYER AND TIGHTEN GRADIENTS. WITH A 12 MB SFO-LAS PRESSURE DIFFERENTIAL AS SUGGESTED BY THE ETA80 FOR 00Z MONDAY...WE SHOULD SEE MORE MARINE AIR TRICKLE INTO THE VALLEY...PARTICULARLY AS ONE APPROACHES THE DELTA. IMPROVED WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT SHOULD INHIBIT CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL SUFFICIENTLY TO DROP THE MENTION OF POPS BY SUNDAY. WITH CYCLONIC FLOW OVERHEAD MONDAY...EXPECT ALL AREAS TO FINALLY ENJOY TEMPERATURES CLOSER TO CLIMO WITH TYPICALLY DRY CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE. .LONG TERM...FOR MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...BROAD TROUGH OVER THE WESTERN U.S. WILL DEEPEN DURING THE PERIOD AS SHORTWAVE ENERGY DROPS OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA. CONSISTENCY AMONG MEDIUM RANGE MODELS AND FROM RUN TO RUN OF PARTICULAR MODELS REGARDING THE EXACT TIMING AND STRENGTH OF THE IMPULSES IS NOT GREAT. IN GENERAL WE SHOULD SEE TEMPERATURES CONTINUING TO COOL A BIT THROUGH WEDNESDAY AND HOVERING RIGHT AROUND CLIMO THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. LIMITED MOISTURE WILL KEEP THE FORECAST DRY THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES EXCEPT FOR SOME CLOUDS DEVELOPING OVER THE SIERRA...MAINLY WEDNESDAY. .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SANGER/BURGER/JEB
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The China Fire 15 miles southwest of Lake Isabella in Kern County was of suspicious origin. It burned 314 acres but no fatalities, injuries, or structures-lost occurred. The cost to suppress was unknown.
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, September 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: 5426010.