Gusty winds and dry conditions on April 18th contributed to a debris fire in Tuolumne County getting out of control and destroying a home. Another debris fire in El Dorado County also destroyed a home.
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 STO wrote it up.
Gusty winds and dry conditions on April 18th contributed to a debris fire in Tuolumne County getting out of control and destroying a home. Another debris fire in El Dorado County also destroyed a home.
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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 18, 12:00 AM PST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 100 AM PDT FRI APR 18 2008 UPDATE AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR .DISCUSSION... ...COLD TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND... MAX TEMPS TOPPED OUT IN THE LOW 80S FOR VALLEY LOCATIONS TODAY BUT THIS WILL CHANGE AS COLDER AIR MOVES INLAND IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATES AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN WITH ITS AXIS CENTERED NEAR 133W LONGITUDE. LATEST 00Z GFS MODEL STILL SIMILAR TO THE 12Z ECMWF INDICATING SHOWERS ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON SATURDAY. HOWEVER...THE 00Z GFS LIMITS PRECIP TO FAR NORCAL WHILE THE ECMWF HAS A WETTER BIAS BRINGING SHOWERS SOUTHWARD INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA BY SATURDAY EVENING. DID NOT MAKE CHANGES TO FORECAST THIS EVENING. BELIEVE THAT SHOWER ACTIVITY WILL PRIMARILY BE IN HIGHER TERRAIN ALONG THE NORTHERN COASTAL AND SIERRA-NEV RANGES FOLLOWING THE GFS TREND. JBB .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...SIGNIFICANT COOLING IS EXPECTED OVER THE WEEKEND AS THE TROUGH DIGS ALONG THE WEST COAST. THIS WILL BRING TEMPERATURES DOWN ABOUT ANOTHER 10 TO 15 DEGREES ON SATURDAY...FOR HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S IN THE VALLEY AND 40S IN THE MOUNTAINS. A SHORT WAVE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO EARLY SUNDAY BRINGING A CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION TO THE HIGHER TERRAIN. ALTHOUGH THE GFS HAS THE TROUGH A LITTLE DEEPER AND A SHORT WAVE FARTHER SOUTH AND A LITTLE FASTER THAN THE NAM/WRF. THE NAM/WRF BRING THE WAVES THROUGH WITH NEAR THE ORCA BORDER AND THE TROUGH NOT AS DEEP WHICH SEEMS LIKE THE BETTER SOLUTION FOR THE BEST CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. 850MB TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO DROP TO AROUND -5 AND 700 MB TEMPERATURES TO AROUND -15 DEGREES SUNDAY MORNING. THIS COULD BRING SNOW LEVELS DOWN INTO THE FOOTHILLS. ALTHOUGH ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LITTLE. GUSTY SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED SATURDAY WITH THE COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH. COLD AIR MASS OVER THE AREA ON SUNDAY BEHIND THE COLD FRONT FOR CONTINUED COOLER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES. .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)... THE GLOBAL FORECAST MODEL AND EUROPEAN SEEM SOMEWHAT IN PHASE IN THE LATEST RUNS FOR MONDAY...WITH AN UPPER LEVEL LOW DROPPING SOUTH FROM CANADA INTO MONTANA SPLITTING AND PART OF THE ENERGY RETROGRADING TO THE WEST TOWARD THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. AT THE SAME TIME, ANOTHER LOW OVER THE NORTHEAST PACIFIC MOVES TOWARD THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS COMPLEX SCENARIO IS FORECAST TO BRING COLDER AIR ON THROUGH INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND SLIGHT CHANCES FOR SNOW SHOWERS IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS INTO MONDAY NIGHT. NORTHEAST PACIFIC LOW AND THE INTERIOR LOW WILL ACT TOGETHER TO AMPLIFY A SHORTWAVE RIDGE ACROSS THE REGION TUESDAY FOR DRY WEATHER. WHILE THERE IS MORE DIVERSITY BETWEEN AFORE MENTIONED LONG-RANGE MODELS FOR WEDNESDAY...BOTH ARE INDICATING THAT THE PACIFIC LOW WILL MOVE ON-SHORE WEDNESDAY. AIRMASS IS NOT NEARLY AS COLD WITH THIS SYSTEM BUT IT COULD BRING SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS TO THE NORTHERN VALLEY AND MOUNTAINS. MORE RIDGING OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC THURSDAY WILL DRY THE REGION OUT AGAIN. RANDY CURTIS HARTLEY && .UPDATED AVIATION... SOUTHERLY SFC FLOW HAS WEAKENED TONIGHT...BUT WIND 25-30KT ABOVE 1K FT OVER NRN HALF SAC VALLEY AND NEAR WRN FOOTHILLS. EXPECT WIND SHEAR COND TIL ABOUT 15Z FRI WHEN INVERSION BREAKS. BY 18Z FRIDAY...WIND SPEEDS WILL PICK UP AS SOUTH TO SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW RANGES 8-15 KTS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON OVER NRN SAC VALLEY AND 12-17KT SUSTAINED OVER SRN SAC VALLEY. WINDS ALOFT WILL BE MORE WESTERLY OVER INTERIOR CA. VFR CONDS WILL PERSIST FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS FOR OUR CWA. JCLAPP && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 700 AM PDT THU APR 17 2008 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-181400- SHASTA LAKE AREA/NORTHERN SHASTA COUNTY- BURNEY BASIN/EASTERN SHASTA COUNTY-NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CENTRAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CARQUINEZ STRAIT AND DELTA-NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- MOUNTAINS SOUTHWESTERN SHASTA TO NORTHERN LAKE COUNTIES- CLEAR LAKE/SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY-MOTHERLODE- EAST FOOTHILLS/NORTH SACRAMENTO VALLEY- WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY/LASSEN PARK-WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA- 700 AM PDT THU APR 17 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT (LOWER CASE): HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/STO
2 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A debris fire in Cold Springs in Tuolumne County got out of control in windy conditions, spreading to 20 acres and destroying one home.
A debris fire in the town of Rescue in El Dorado County spread out of control over 15 acres. Fifty homes were threatened, with one home destroyed and one resident of that home suffering burn injuries.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2008
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: 83832, 86324.