The Plunge Fire burned 485 acres of rugged terrain between Running Springs and Highland. Strong Santa Ana winds on the 23rd contributed to the brief but rapid spread of this fire.
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 episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
The Plunge Fire burned 485 acres of rugged terrain between Running Springs and Highland. Strong Santa Ana winds on the 23rd contributed to the brief but rapid spread of this fire.
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 Jan 22, 1:14 PM PST, 23 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
114 PM PST SUN JAN 22 2006
SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE GREAT BASIN COMBINED
WITH NORTHEAST FLOW ALOFT WILL BRING STRONG AND POTENTIALLY
DAMAGING SANTA ANA WINDS TONIGHT AND MONDAY. THE STRONGEST WINDS
WILL OCCUR TONIGHT AND MONDAY...THEN DECREASE SLIGHTLY MONDAY NIGHT
INTO TUESDAY. A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE MOUNTAINS
AND THE INLAND EMPIRE THROUGH 2 PM TUESDAY. MILD WEATHER AND
LIGHTER WINDS ARE EXPECTED WEDNESDAY. A PACIFIC TROUGH WILL BRING
INCREASING CLOUDS THURSDAY AND A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS FRIDAY.
&&
DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE...
SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTIES...
WATER VAPOR IMAGE SHOWS AN IMPRESSIVE AREA OF SUBSIDENCE
ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LOW NEAR PT CONCEPTION THIS AFTERNOON.
STRONG LOW LEVEL WINDS HAVE ALREADY SURFACED IN THE MOUNTAINS AND
VALLEYS WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH AT ONT AND 50 MPH AT FREMONT CANYON.
THE WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE TONIGHT AND PEAK ON MONDAY
WHEN STRONG WINDS ALOFT...STRONG SUBSIDENCE...CAA...AND VERY
STRONG OFFSHORE PRESSURE GRADIENTS CONVERGE OVER SOCAL. CURRENT
PRESSURE GRADIENTS ARE 10 MB FROM SAN-TPH AND WILL REACH CLOSE TO
17 MB OFFSHORE MONDAY MORNING.
THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A DAMAGING WIND EVENT. THE 18Z ETA 12
MODEL IS CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS RUNS IN PROJECTING DOWNWARD VV
BTWN 40AND 50 MICROBARS/S MONDAY MORNING...AND WOULD NOT BE
SURPRISED IF WE GET REPORTS OF WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH
MONDAY MORNING AS THEY FUNNEL THROUGH THE CAJON PASS INTO THE
INLAND EMPIRE. OTHER AREAS FAVORABLE FOR VERY STRONG WINDS INCLUDE
THE SANTA ANA MTNS...THE BANNING PASS...AND THE EAST-WEST MOUNTAIN
PASSES OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY. GUSTY WINDS WILL ALSO AFFECT ORANGE
COUNTY COASTAL AREAS AND THE SAN DIEGO INLAND VALLEYS WHERE A WIND
ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT.
ON MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY THE SYNOPTIC FEATURES WEAKEN SLIGHTLY.
THE CAA WONT BE QUITE AS STRONG AND THE LOW LEVEL WINDS WILL BE A
LITTLE WEAKER. BUT WITH A 1040 MB HIGH OVER UTAH THE OFFSHORE
PRESSURE GRADIENTS WILL REMAIN STRONG ENOUGH FOR EITHER LOW END
HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA OR HIGH END WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA.
ON TUESDAY NIGHT THE UPPER LOW BEGINS TO LIFT EASTWARD TOWARD
AZ...THE SURFACE HIGH DRIFTS OVER CO AND WEAKENS...AND THAT WILL
MARK THE END OF THIS SANTA ANA EVENT.
AS FOR THE TEMPS...MTNS AND DESERTS WILL BE HELD IN CHECK BY THE
CAA...BUT DOWNSLOPE WARMING WILL PUSH TEMPS INTO THE 70S WEST OF
THE MTNS...AND THIS IS ONE OF THOSE SCENARIOS WHERE THE COASTAL
ZONES COULD BE WARMER THAN THE INLAND VALLEYS.
ALL EYES TURN TO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY AS THE GFS AND ECWMF ARE IN
BETTER AGGREMENT ON HANDLING THE PACIFIC TROUGH HEADING FOR CA. WE
WILL SEE INCREASING MID AND HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE THURSDAY ALONG
WITH COOLER WEATHER AND A RETURN TO ONSHORE FLOW. LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE INCREASES THURSDAY NIGHT AND THE MODELS GENERATE QPF OVER
THE CWA FRIDAY. WILL HOLD ONTO THE SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN FRIDAY
IN THE GOING FORECAST.
&&
.AVIATION...
OFFSHORE FLOW WILL STRENGTHEN TONIGHT AND MONDAY WITH VFR
CONDITIONS CONTINUING ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. EXPECT MOSTLY CLEAR
SKIES AND UNRESTRICTED VISIBILITIES THROUGH MONDAY. SOME SCATTERED
CLOUDS ABOVE 15000 FEET MSL ARE EXPECTED FROM TIME TO TIME.
STRONG GUSTY NORTHEAST WINDS HAVE ALREADY MOVED INTO THE AREA AND
WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT AND MONDAY...ESPECIALLY BELOW THE CAJON PASS
NEAR KONT/KCNO/KRAL AND THROUGH THE SANTA ANA RIVER CANYON INTO
ORANGE COUNTY. AREAS OF STRONG UP AND DOWN DRAFTS AND LOW LEVEL WIND
SHEAR CAUSED BY THE WIND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY AS WELL. THE
GUSTY WINDS MAY PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING DUST AND MVFR VISIBILITIES
AT TIMES BELOW THE CAJON PASS.
&&
.SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 2 PM PST TUESDAY FOR THE MOUNTAINS
AND THE INLAND EMPIRE...SEE LAXNPWSGX
RED FLAG WARNING FROM 6 AM MONDAY TO 4 PM PST TUESDAY...SEE
LAXRFWSGX.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 2 PM PST TUESDAY FOR ORANGE COUNTY
COASTAL AREAS AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS.
PZ...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC...MOEDE
AVIATION/MARINE...HORTON
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
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, January 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: 5486819.