A strong high pressure ridge allowed high temperatures to reach triple digits across the northern Central Valley.
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.
A strong high pressure ridge allowed high temperatures to reach triple digits across the northern Central Valley.
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 Aug 14, 8:00 PM PST, 4 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 900 PM PDT THU AUG 14 2008 .DISCUSSION... THE DELTA BREEZE IS STRONGER TONIGHT THAN LAST NIGHT. ONSHORE GRADIENT FROM SFO-SAC AT 4 MB THIS EVENING WITH DECENT FLOW THROUGH THE DELTA. MARINE LAYER HAS INCREASED THIS EVENING AS WELL UP TO AROUND 1600 FEET ALONG THE COAST. TEMPERATURES AT FAIRFIELD ARE RUNNING 13 DEGREES COOLER AS OF 8 PM AND 2 TO 3 DEGREES COOLER AROUND SACRAMENTO AND UP TO 15 DEGREES COOLER FOR SOME SPOTS IN THE OAKLAND HILLS. 850 MB TEMPERATURES WARM ABOUT A DEGREE CELSIUS FOR FRIDAY BUT BETWEEN THE INCREASED DELTA BREEZE AND MOISTURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE FROM THE CLOUDS MOVING UP FROM THE SOUTH...SOME COOLING MAY OCCUR AROUND THE SACRAMENTO AREA. ELSEWHERE TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE ABOUT THE SAME AS THEY WERE TODAY. THE BREEZE THROUGH THE DELTA LOOKS EVEN STRONGER FRIDAY EVENING SO EXPECT BETTER COOLING TO OCCUR FRIDAY EVENING. MODELS INDICATE THE CLOUDS MOVING UP FROM THE SOUTH MAINLY ALONG THE COASTAL RANGE AND OVER THE BAY AREA TO CONTINUE ON FRIDAY AND MAY EVENING SPREAD TO SOME AREAS OVER THE SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN VALLEYS TO HELP KEEP TEMPERATURES DOWN SLIGHTLY FROM TODAY. A VERY WEAK DISTURBANCE MOVES NORTHWARD ALONG THE COASTLINE ON FRIDAY. IN GENERAL THE ATMOSPHERE LOOKS TO STABLE TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE EXCEPTION OF OVER TRINITY COUNTY AND POINTS NORTHWARD INTO SOUTHERN OREGON. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT AND FRIDAY... EXCEPT FOR AREAS OF MVFR VISIBILITIES IN THE VICINITY OF WILDFIRES AND AREAS OF IFR CIGS ALONG THE COAST AND LOCALLY INLAND. SCATTERED AFTERNOON CUMULUS CLOUDS EXPECTED OVER THE MOUNTAINS FRIDAY. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ...HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM PDT FRIDAY FOR MOUNTAINS SOUTHWESTERN SHASTA COUNTY TO NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY-SHASTA LAKE AREA / NORTHERN SHASTA COUNTY AND FOR THE NORTHEAST FOOTHILLS/SACRAMENTO VALLEY-NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY... &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 500 AM PDT THU AUG 14 2008 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-151400- 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- 500 AM PDT THU AUG 14 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY * HEAT ADVISORY......SEE WWUS76 KSTO - NPWSTO FOR DETAILS... HOT WEATHER TODAY OVER INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WITH NEAR RECORD TO RECORD TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY HEAT ADVISORY CONTINUES INTO FRIDAY THEN GRADUAL COOLING TREND THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT (LOWER CASE): HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/STO
2 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
A daily maximum temperature record of 112 degrees was set in Redding. This broke the previous record of 110 degrees set in 1920.
A daily maximum temperature record of 111 degrees was set in Red Bluff. This broke the previous record of 108 degrees set in 1962.
A daily maximum temperature record of 105 degrees was set in Modesto. This broke the previous record of 104 degrees set in 1996.
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, August 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: 131680, 131681.