Strong winds in North Palm Springs knocked down 14 power poles, several of which were snapped in half. The resultant power outage affected 438 Southern California Edison customers.
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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 winds in North Palm Springs knocked down 14 power poles, several of which were snapped in half. The resultant power outage affected 438 Southern California Edison customers. Nearby at the Palm Springs airport ASOS, a peak wind gust of 38 mph was observed. This was the highest wind gust measured in the entire valley that day. A much stronger, more localized wind gust most likely occured where the damage was reported, however the magnitude of this gust remains unknown. Given that an isolated 81 mph wind gust was measured to the north by the Burns Canyon RAWS at nearly the same time, one can conclude the damage was most likely caused by the same or similar event, that of a surfacing mountain wave.
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 Mar 20, 1:00 PM PST, 2 hours 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 200 PM PDT TUE MAR 20 2007 .SYNOPSIS... A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BRING MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND PERIODS OF LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW THROUGH WEDNESDAY. MODERATE OFFSHORE FLOW IS EXPECTED WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. FAIR AND A LITTLE WARMER OVER THE WEEKEND UNDER WEAK HIGH PRESSURE. ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ON MONDAY MAY BRING LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW TO THE REGION. THE SPRING EQUINOX WILL OCCUR AT 507 PM PDT TODAY. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY)... INCREASING CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT AS TROUGH APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. MARINE LAYER IS REDEEPENING AND LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS HAVE BEGUN TO FORM OVER COASTAL WATERS AND MOVE ONSHORE TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST. THE FORMATION OF A CUTOFF LOW APPEARS UNDERWAY PER SATELLITE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...A LITTLE EARLIER AND FURTHER WEST THAN MODELS FORECAST...BUT PRETTY MUCH ON TRACK. EASTWARD PROGRESS OF TROUGH/CUTOFF LOW WILL SLOW TO A CRAWL TONIGHT AND A DRIFT TOWARDS THE SOUTH IS LIKELY ON WEDNESDAY. LIGHT PRECIPITATION EXPECTED OVER SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. SOME CLEARING AND DRYING EXPECTED WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS LOW MOVES FURTHER SOUTH AND EAST TO NORTHEAST FLOW DEVELOPS. HOWEVER WRAP AROUND MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY ON THURSDAY COULD RIGGER A FEW SHOWERS AND/OR THUNDERSTORMS...MOSTLY OVER EASTERN SAN DIEGO COUNTY AND UP COACHELLA VALLEY/ALONG EAST SLOPES OF SAN JACINTO/SANTA ROSA/SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS. SOME OF THESE COULD BE CARRIED WESTWARD ACROSS SAN DIEGO COUNTY TO THE COAST. LIGHTNING ACTIVITY EXPECTED TO BE ISOLATED...EXCEPT OVER SOUTHEAST QUADRANT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY...WHERE OCCASIONAL AND MOSTLY DRY LIGHTNING...LAL 3...IS POSSIBLE THURSDAY AFTERNOON. WILL ISSUE AN AFTERNOON FIRE WEATHER ZONE FORECAST AND HEADLINE THIS THREAT. FOR FRIDAY...THE UPPER LOW IS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST ACROSS SONORA MEXICO AND HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE IS BUILDING TO THE NORTH. A WEAK SANTA ANA WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED WITH EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS 20 MPH AND GUSTS 35-45 MPH THROUGH PASSES AND CANYONS. && .LONG TERM (SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY)... FOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY DRY AND WARM AS RIDGE MOVES SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REGION. BY MONDAY A STRONG COLD FRONT IS MOVING SOUTHEAST THROUGH CALIFORNIA...AND BRUSHING SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY WITH ANOTHER CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE MUCH COOLER BUT PRECIPITATION EXPECTED TO BE LIMITED DUE TO LINGERING DRY MID LAYER. && .AVIATION... 201945Z...PILOT REPORTS INDICATE THE MARINE LAYER DEPTH WAS AROUND 4000 FEET THIS AFTERNOON. AN EXTENSIVE AREA OF STRATOCU COVERS THE AREA FROM THE COASTAL SLOPES OF THE MOUNTAINS TO OFF THE COAST PAST THE OFFSHORE ISLANDS. BASES WERE AROUND 2000 TO 2500 FEET MSL. EXPECT BROKEN TO OVERCAST CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT AT ALL AIRPORTS WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS. A WEAK COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO PASS THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING WHICH MAY LIFT THE LAYER A FEW HUNDRED FEET BUT BROKEN TO OVERCAST CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ON WEDNESDAY. SOME MVFR VISIBILITIES AT TIMES IN LIGHT SHOWERS THROUGH WEDNESDAY. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CA...NONE. PZ...NONE. && PUBLIC/FIRE WEATHER...BALFOUR AVIATION/MARINE.......HORTON NWS ON THE WEB AT WEATHER.GOV/SANDIEGO
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 200 PM PDT TUE MAR 20 2007 CAZ042-043-211100- ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS-SAN DIEGO COUNTY COASTAL AREAS- 200 PM PDT TUE MAR 20 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN WEATHER ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED FOR THIS AREA... HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS. CAZ058-211100- SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 200 PM PDT TUE MAR 20 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY DRY LIGHTNING POSSIBLE THURSDAY OVER MOUNTAINS. EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH POSSIBLE ON FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN WEATHER ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED FOR THIS AREA... HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS. RB
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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, March 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: 22349, 22352.