The Elephant Fire burned an area of forest along Feather River Canyon, near Rock Creek.
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.
The Elephant Fire burned an area of forest along Feather River Canyon, near Rock Creek.
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 16, 2:30 PM PST, 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 330 PM PDT SUN AUG 16 2009 .DISCUSSION... UPPER RIDGE NEAR 135W WILL STRENGTHEN THROUGH TOMORROW AFTERNOON THEN SHIFT OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BY WEDNESDAY. ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WITH PERIODS OF BREEZY NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH MID-WEEK. THERMAL TROF IS OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AND THE MARINE LAYER IS ROUGHLY 1000 FEET DEEP WITH A LIMITED ONSHORE GRADIENT OF 2 MB KSFO-KSAC. THE YUBA FIRE WAS ACTIVE LAST NIGHT THOUGH REPORTS ARE THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO MAKE SOME GAINS ON IT TODAY. THE NORTH-SOUTH GRADIENT ALONG THE NORCAL COAST DECREASES TONIGHT WHILE THE NAM CAME IN A BIT STRONGER WITH COOLING AND UPPER LEVEL FORCING FROM A WAVE CURRENTLY DROPPING SOUTH INTO THE INTERIOR NORTHWEST. STRONGER EAST GRADIENTS WILL MAKE FOR ANOTHER LOCALLY BREEZY NIGHT ALONG THE WEST SLOPE OF THE SIERRA AND CANYONS IN THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS...AS WELL AS THE SHASTA COUNTY CANYONS AND BASINS. A WEAK TRICKLE THROUGH THE DELTA SHOULD AGAIN COOL TEMPERATURES FROM VALLEJO TO FAIRFIELD TO WEST SACRAMENTO TONIGHT. SMOKE FROM THE YUBA FIRE WILL PROBABLY SPILL BACK INTO THE CENTRAL SAC VALLEY AGAIN. MONDAY THE 850MB TEMPERATURES WARM TO 24-26C AND HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL EXCEED 100 DEGREES IN MANY VALLEY LOCATIONS. WE COULD REMAIN JUST BELOW 100 AT SACRAMENTO MONDAY...HOWEVER MONDAY NIGHT THE THERMAL TROF DEEPENS AND EXPANDS OVER CALIFORNIA AS THE UPPER RIDGE DRAWS CLOSER. THE GFS ALSO DROPS MORE ENERGY INTO THE WEAK TROF OVER NEVADA AND THE WRF HAS SOME GUSTY WINDS OVER THE SHASTA COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND THROUGH THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS AGAIN. AS THE UPPER RIDGE SHIFTS INLAND TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...TEMPERATURES OF 102 TO 108 DEGREES ARE LIKELY IN ALL VALLEY LOCATIONS. SG .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY)... THE HIGH-AMPLITUDE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL BE PUSHED EASTWARD BY AN EASTERN PACIFIC TROUGH MIDWEEK. QUESTIONS REMAIN ON THE HANDLING OF THE TROUGH. THE CURRENT CROP OF MODELS ARE NOW HINTING AT THE TROUGH ABSORBING ENERGY FROM A CUTOFF LOW OFF THE SOCAL COAST TOWARDS THE END OF THE WEEK. THIS SETUP COULD DRAW UP MOISTURE FROM THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA AND PROVIDE AN ADDITIONAL SOURCE OF INSTABILITY. HAVE OPTED TO LEAVE OUT MENTION OF MOUNTAIN THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE TIME BEING...BUT WILL NEED TO KEEP AN EYE ON THIS AS MODELS GET A BETTER GRASP ON THE SITUATION. WILL CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE THE SLIGHT COOLING TREND THE LATTER HALF OF THIS WEEK WITH SEASONAL TO SLIGHTLY COOLER THAN NORMAL TEMPS. DANG && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS THE NEXT 24 HOURS AS HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. LOCAL MVFR/IFR VSBYS POSSIBLE DUE TO SMOKE OVER EASTERN SHASTA COUNTY...SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY AND YUBA/SUTTER COUNTY. LOCAL NORTHWESTERLY TO NORTHEASTERLY WIND GUSTS 15-20KT DOWN COASTAL AND WESTERN SIERRA MOUNTAINS BETWEEN 06-18Z TONIGHT. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 400 AM PDT SUN AUG 16 2009 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-171400- 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- 400 AM PDT SUN AUG 16 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 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
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Elephant Wildfire burned 445 acres of woodland. Highway 70 travel was limited at one point to one way traffic with a pilot car, causing travel delays.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2009
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: 191777.