Strong high pressure over the Great Basin resulted in gusty Santa Ana Winds across Southern California. The wind was particularly strong in San Bernardino.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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 episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
Strong high pressure over the Great Basin resulted in gusty Santa Ana Winds across Southern California. The wind was particularly strong in San Bernardino. At Palm Avenue Elementary School, the wind gusted over 75 mph seven times with a peak gust of 92 mph at 6:39 AM on the 3rd. Downed power lines sparked a small fire that burned less than an acre of land. The wind was also quite strong in the Santa Ana Mountains and foothills. Fremont Canyon RAWS measured numerous wind gusts greater than 60 mph, including a peak gust of 75 mph between 8:30 and 9:30 AM. While most of San Diego County escaped the worst of the wind, there were still isolated reports of damage, including 16 downed power poles along Valley Center Road.
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 Dec 2, 1:20 PM PST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 120 PM PST SAT DEC 2 2006 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE REBUILDING OVER THE GREAT BASIN WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF STRONG AND GUSTY SANTA ANA WINDS THROUGH SUNDAY. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP LATER THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE INTO SUNDAY AFTERNOON. WINDS WILL DECREASE GRADUALLY SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. OTHERWISE...SKIES WILL BE CLEAR WITH MILD DAYS... COOL NIGHTS AND VERY LOW HUMIDITIES. ONSHORE FLOW WILL DEVELOP AND SLOWLY INCREASE THE SECOND HALF OF NEXT WEEK AND BRING A RETURN OF THE MARINE LAYER. A PACIFIC SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BRING PRECIPITATION BY NEXT WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES. OFFSHORE PRESSURE GRADIENTS WERE TEMPORARILY HOLDING NEAR -11 MB SAN-TPH EARLY THIS AFTN BEFORE THEY JUMP HIGHER THIS EVENING. THE MOST RECENT OBSERVED LOCAL ENE WIND GUSTS WERE 35-45 MPH NEAR THE WIND PRONE PASSES/CANYONS. STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR LATER TONIGHT THRU EARLY SUNDAY AFTN...GUSTING AROUND 65 MPH NEAR PASSES/CANYONS. GOOD CONTINUITY DURING THE PAST FEW FORECAST MODEL RUNS WITH THE WIND STRENGTH. SOLID THERMAL SUPPORT AS A REINFORCEMENT OF COLDER AIR SURGES SOUTH FROM NV LATER TONIGHT. GRADIENTS APPROACH 16 MPH SAN-TPH AND WINDS ALOFT ARE FAVORABLE/WELL ALIGNED WITH 25-35 KTS FCST NEAR 850 MB. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE AFTER 4 PM SUNDAY...HOWEVER GRADIENTS WILL SUPPORT CONTINUED GUSTY EAST WINDS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY PARTICULARLY NEAR SAN DIEGO COUNTY MTNS/VLYS AND NEAR BEAUMONT. FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS CONTINUE WITH RED FLAG WARNING DUE TO THE WINDS AND EXTENDED DURATIONS OF VERY LOW HUMIDITIES THROUGH SUNDAY...AND EXPECT THE OVERALL HAZARD TO LINGER THRU TUE. DAYTIME TEMPS REMAIN MILD W OF THE MTNS AGAIN THIS AFTN...BUT WILL HAVE SOME COOLING SUNDAY DUE TO COLD AIR ADVECTION FROM THE GREAT BASIN. NIGHTTIME TEMPS CHILLY IN THE WIND-SHELTERED AREAS BUT MILD IN THE WINDY AREAS. ONSHORE FLOW WILL SLOWLY RETURN TUE/WED...AND THE MARINE LAYER WILL GRADUALLY START TO BUILD THEN. THE MID-PACIFIC JET STREAM WILL BE FAIRLY ACTIVE ON/JUST NORTH OF OUR LATITUDE MOST OF NEXT WEEK...AND A SYSTEM ASSOCIATED WITH THAT JET COULD MOVE INTO CALIFORNIA AROUND THE END OF THE WEEK. CURRENT MODELS HAVE THE SYSTEM APPEARING FAIRLY WEAK AND FAST MOVING...BUT THIS COULD HAVE SUFFICIENT MOISTURE FOR PRECIP AS A MADDEN-JULIAN OSCILLATION (OR MJO) SIGNATURE COULD BE DEVELOPING OVER THE EQUATORIAL MIDDLE-WEST PACIFIC. && .AVIATION... NORTHEAST FLOW WILL STRENGTHEN THROUGH SUNDAY AFTERNOON THEN DECREASE WITH THE STRONGEST FLOW EXPECTED TONIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY. EXPECT LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR ESPECIALLY NIGHT TIME HOURS WHEN THE INVERSION DEVELOPS AND COASTAL AIRPORTS AFTERNOONS WITH WEAK ONSHORE FLOW NEAR THE SURFACE. ALONG WITH THE WIND SHEAR PROBLEM...ALL AREAS WEST AND SOUTHWEST OF THE MOUNTAINS WILL EXPERIENCE MOUNTAIN WAVE ACTIVITY WITH MODERATE TO SEVERE TURBULENCE THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY EVENING. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND INLAND EMPIRE FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 4 PM SUNDAY. SEE LAXNPWSGX. WIND ADVISORY FOR ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS THROUGH 4 PM SUNDAY. SEE LAXNPWSGX. RED FLAG WARNING FOR THE MOUNTAINS...INLAND VALLEYS AND ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS THROUGH TUESDAY. SEE LAXRFWSGX. && PUBLIC...LAVIS AVIATION...ECC
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 430 PM PST SAT DEC 2 2006 CAZ042-048-050-055-056-057-058-060-061-062-031200- ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS- SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTY VALLEYS-THE INLAND EMPIRE- SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS- SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS- RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS- SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS- APPLE AND LUCERNE VALLEYS- COACHELLA VALLEY- SAN DIEGO COUNTY DESERTS- 430 PM PST SAT DEC 2 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR ALL OF EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND THE INLAND EMPIRE TO 4 PM SUNDAY. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS THROUGH 4 PM SUNDAY. SEE LAXNPWSGX FOR MORE DETAILS. A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE MOUNTAINS...INLAND VALLEYS AND ORANGE COUNTY. SEE LAXRFWSGX FOR MORE DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. THE STRONG SANTA ANA WINDS WILL CONTINUE SUNDAY. WINDS WILL DECREASE SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...HOWEVER GUSTY CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST IN THE MORE WIND PRONE LOCATIONS. PROLONGED LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY WILL PERSIST SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY WITH CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS. A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT. SEE LAXRFWSGX FOR MORE DETAILS. HIGH WIND WARNINGS AND WIND ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT THROUGH 4 PM SUNDAY. SEE LAXNPWSGX FOR MORE DETAILS. LAVIS/MOEDE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind, 1 wildfire, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Damage to wires on a power pole sparked a 100 acre wildfire in Norco. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported.
Estimated wind gust based on numerous downed power pole reports from Valley Center. While a few gust over 40 mph were observed across San Diego County, most observations in the area reported wind gusts of less than 30 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2006
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: 6693, 4938, 4937, 4939.