High pressure over the Great Basin combined with northeast winds aloft produced a brief period of gusty Santa Ana winds on the morning of March 19th, mainly in the mountains and the Inland Empire.
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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.
High pressure over the Great Basin combined with northeast winds aloft produced a brief period of gusty Santa Ana winds on the morning of March 19th, mainly in the mountains and the Inland Empire.
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 19, 2:30 AM PST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 330 AM PDT FRI MAR 19 2010 .SYNOPSIS...OFFSHORE FLOW WILL CAUSE LOCAL STRONG GUSTY WINDS THROUGH AND BELOW MOUNTAIN CANYONS AND PASSES TODAY. THE MARINE LAYER WILL CAUSE AREAS OF COASTAL LOW CLOUDS AND FOG DURING THE NIGHTS AND MORNINGS. OTHERWISE...FAIR AND WARMER THROUGH THE WEEKEND UNDER HIGH PRESSURE. UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE WILL BRING MORE CLOUDS AND COOLING EARLY NEXT WEEK. FAIR AND WARMER AGAIN TOWARD MID WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...FOR SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA INCLUDING SAN DIEGO... ORANGE...SOUTHWEST SAN BERNARDINO AND WEST RIVERSIDE COUNTIES. .SHORT TERM (TODAY-SUNDAY)...THERE WERE AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG THIS MORNING IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY W OF THE MOUNTAINS AND PARTS OF ORANGE COUNTY. CLEAR ELSEWHERE. EARLY MORNING AIRCRAFT SOUNDINGS SHOWED INCREASING NW WINDS ALOFT. OFFSHORE GRADIENTS FROM THE N WITH ABOUT -5 MB SAN-TPH AND ONSHORE TO THE E. AN UPPER TROUGH WILL MOVE OFF TO THE SE EARLY THIS MORNING. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE INTERIOR IN THE WAKE OF THIS TROUGH. THE COMBINATION OF OFFSHORE GRADIENTS...ALONG WITH SOME THERMAL AND UPPER SUPPORT WILL BRIEFLY CAUSE LOCAL STRONG OFFSHORE WINDS. THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE NEAR THE CAJON PASS AND IN THE SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS WERE THEY SHOULD REACH ADVISORY STRENGTH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 50 MPH. THERE WILL ALSO BE LOCAL GUSTY N WINDS THROUGH THE COACHELLA VALLEY THIS MORNING...BUT THEY SHOULD REMAIN BELOW ADVISORY STRENGTH. LOW CLOUDS AND FOG WILL MOSTLY BE IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY W OF THE MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING BUT THE PASSING TROUGH AND DEVELOPING OFFSHORE FLOW KEEP STRATUS PATCHY IN ORANGE COUNTY. AREAS OF COASTAL LOW CLOUDS AND FOG WILL CONTINUE DURING THE NIGHTS AND MORNINGS THROUGH THE WEEKEND. OTHERWISE...SKIES WILL BE MOSTLY CLEAR. LOCAL WARMING TODAY...MAINLY IN THE INLAND EMPIRE AND ORANGE COUNTY. MINOR TEMPS CHANGES IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY W OF THE MOUNTAINS BUT COOLER IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS TODAY DUE TO COLD AIR ADVECTION. WARMER IN MOST AREAS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY WITH MAX TEMPS INLAND ABOUT 5 TO 10 DEGREES ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. && .LONG TERM (MONDAY-THURSDAY)...A TROUGH APPROACHING FROM THE NW WILL BRING MORE HIGH CLOUDS AND COOLING MONDAY. DEEPER MARINE LAYER MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING. MORE COOLING TUESDAY. PROBABLY NO MEASURABLE PRECIP TUESDAY...BUT CANNOT COMPLETELY RULE OUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS. FAIR AND WARMER WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY UNDER HIGH PRESSURE. && .AVIATION... 190845Z...SHALLOW MOIST LAYER WILL REMAIN OVER AREAS W OF THE MTNS UNTIL AROUND 18Z THIS MORNING WITH AREAS OF BKN-OVC CIGS FL015 AND TOPS FL025. OTHERWISE...VFR WITH UNRESTRICTED VIS. STRONG NORTH FLOW ALOFT WITH POSSIBLE DOWNWIND MOUNTAIN WAVE ACTIVITY OVER THE INLAND EMPIRE COULD CREATE MODERATE UP AND DOWNDRAFTS AND LOCAL LLWS AT KONT AND KSNA THROUGH 18Z. ELSEWHERE...LOCAL GUSTY OFFSHORE WINDS WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 45 KTS AT TIMES THIS MORNING THROUGH AND BELOW PASSES AND CANYONS. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 1 PM PDT TODAY FOR THE INLAND EMPIRE AND SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS. && PUBLIC...ATKIN AVIATION...JAD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 400 AM PDT FRI MAR 19 2010 CAZ042-043-048-050-055>058-060>062-200000- ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS- SAN DIEGO COUNTY COASTAL AREAS- SAN BERNARDINO AND RIVERSIDE COUNTY VALLEYS-THE INLAND EMPIRE- SAN DIEGO COUNTY VALLEYS- SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS- RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- SANTA ANA MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS- SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS- APPLE AND LUCERNE VALLEYS- COACHELLA VALLEY- SAN DIEGO COUNTY DESERTS- 400 AM PDT FRI MAR 19 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT OFFSHORE FLOW WILL CAUSE LOCAL STRONG GUSTY WINDS THROUGH AND BELOW MOUNTAIN CANYONS AND PASSES. SURF WILL CAUSE LOCAL STRONG AND DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS AT THE BEACHES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED FOR THIS AREA...HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS. ATKIN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High winds began in the Riverside County mountains between 0720 and 0820 PST and continued through 0920 PST. Between 0820 and 0920 PST, a peak wind gust of 65 MPH was measured by the Indian Mountain RAWS.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 2010
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: 219423.