A lightning outbreak on August 29, 2007, produced over a dozen mostly small wildland fires in the Mendocino and Shasta-Trinity National Forests.
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 EKA wrote it up.
A lightning outbreak on August 29, 2007, produced over a dozen mostly small wildland fires in the Mendocino and Shasta-Trinity National Forests.
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 Eureka, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 28, 2:39 PM PST, 9 hours 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA 339 PM PDT TUE AUG 28 2007 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT PARKED NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS...ALONG WITH AN OFFSHORE FLOW WILL ALLOW FOR CLEAR SKIES TO PERSIST ACROSS THE MAJORITY OF NW CALIFORNIA. INTERIOR VALLEY HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN NEAR THE CENTURY MARK ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL PUSH TOWARDS THE REGION LATE IN THE WEEK AND WEEKEND...CAUSING TEMPERATURES TO COOL SEVERAL DEGREES ACROSS THE INTERIOR. STRATUS AND PATCHY FOG WILL BE ON THE INCREASE AT THE COAST OVERNIGHT AND EACH MORNING WITH A RETURN TO ONSHORE FLOW. && DISCUSSION...AFTERNOON VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWED CLEAR SKIES DOMINATING THE LANDSCAPE ACROSS NW CALIFORNIA THANKS TO AN OFFSHORE FLOW IN THE LOW LEVELS. THE ONLY EXCEPTION WAS COASTAL LOCATIONS SOUTH OF CAPE MENDOCINO...WHERE A SOUTHERLY SURGE OF STRATUS AND PATCHY FOG PERSISTED THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS. COASTAL EDDIES WERE ALSO EVIDENT ON SATELLITE AS OF 22Z. THIS COMBINED WITH A STRENGTHENING OFFSHORE FLOW DOWN SOUTH HAS AIDED IN THE DISSIPATION OF THE STRATUS. INLAND...TEMPERATURES WERE QUITE TOASTY YET AGAIN TODAY...WITH A HIGH OF 104 REPORTED AT THE FIVE CENT RAWS AS OF 3PM. HOT TEMPERATURES WILL PERSIST THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON WITH LITTLE VARIATION IN MID LEVEL HEIGHTS AND LOW LEVEL TEMPERATURES. HAVE OPTED TO KEEP SILENT POPS ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING OVER HIGHER ELEVATIONS ACROSS INTERIOR SECTIONS...INCLUDING THE TRINITY ALPS. GFS INDICATES LIFTED INDICES NEAR -1 IN EASTERN TRINITY COUNTY ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON. A SMALL INCREASE IN MID-LEVEL MOISTURE MOVING IN FROM THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST IS ALSO EXPECTED. THUS THERE IS STILL A VERY SMALL CHANCE FOR CONVECTION...BUT NOT QUITE ENOUGH TO WARRANT INCLUSION IN THE FORECAST AT THIS TIME. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR ANY CHANGES. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL DIP INTO THE AREA FROM THE NW BY LATE IN THE WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND...ALLOWING FOR INTERIOR TEMPERATURES TO COOL INTO THE UPPER 80S TO MID 90S. AN ONSHORE FLOW WILL BECOME MORE PRONOUNCED OUT AHEAD OF THE TROUGH...WITH AN INCREASE IN COASTAL STRATUS AND PATCHY FOG EXPECTED EACH NIGHT AND MORNING. MODELS CONTINUE TO BE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH WARMING EXPECTED IN THE EXTENDED BY LABOR DAY AND NO CHANCE OF RAIN EXPECTED THROUGH AT LEAST NEXT TUESDAY. -LEWITSKY && .AVIATION...A WEAK SOUTHERLY GRADIENT HAS DEVELOPED ALONG THE COAST...WHICH HAS ALLOWED A VERY SHALLOW STRATUS DECK TO CREEP UP THE COAST SOUTH OF CAPE MENDOCINO WHILE THE REST OF THE REGION REMAIN CLEAR. DOES NOT APPEAR THE AREA WILL EXPERIENCE A SOUTHERLY STRATUS SURGE TONIGHT...WITH WINDS BECOMING OFFSHORE ONCE AGAIN LATER TONIGHT. THE EXCEPTION MAY BE ALONG THE EXTREME SOUTHERN COAST WHERE WINDS MAY REMAIN LIGHT AND SOUTHERLY ENOUGH TO ALLOW LINGERING STRATUS TO FILL IN OVERNIGHT. FOR THE REST OF THE COAST...THE MAIN QUESTION WILL BE IF LOCAL IFR/LIFR RADIATIONAL FOG AND STRATUS DEVELOPS OR IF OFFSHORE FLOW WILL REMAIN STRONG ENOUGH ONCE AGAIN TO KEEP SKIES CLEAR. FOR NOW...EXPECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME MVFR FOG OVERNIGHT WITH LIFR FOG AT THE TERMINALS AROUND SUNRISE. INLAND...SKIES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN CLEAR. -ALM && .EKA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... PZZ450 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZ SEAS THROUGH 06Z PZZ470 GALE AND HAZARDOUS SEAS WARNING THROUGH 06Z PZZ475 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WINDS AND HAZ SEAS THROUGH 06Z && VISIT US AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/EUREKA
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The lightning outbreak of August 29 caused numerous wildland fires. While most were small, the largest was the Lazy Fire that burned 599 acres. It affected Mendocino County as well as others. It was contained on September 9.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2007
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: 59419.