California, 2011Strong Wind in California, June 15 to 17, 2011
June 15 to 17, 2011 · NWS SGX · 3 events in 1 county or zone
A strong thermal gradient (105 degrees F at Thermal and upper 60s near the coast) combined with an upper low over Utah allowed for significant pressure falls, further tightening the pressure gradient, producing strong westerly winds. The strong winds were a factor in four separate vehicle crashes on the 16th and an overturned plane on the 17th.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
Open the live radar over this ground
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 6
- Property damage
- $155,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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.
A strong thermal gradient (105 degrees F at Thermal and upper 60s near the coast) combined with an upper low over Utah allowed for significant pressure falls, further tightening the pressure gradient, producing strong westerly winds. The strong winds were a factor in four separate vehicle crashes on the 16th and an overturned plane on the 17th. Winds were just shy of high wind criteria, but were oriented perpendicular to the roads where the crashes occurred.
What forecasters said that day
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 Jun 15, 12:35 PM PST, 6 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 15, 12:35 PM PST, 6 hours 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
135 PM PDT WED JUN 15 2011
.SYNOPSIS...
UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL SLOWLY SAG OVER THE
WEST...BRINGING A GRADUAL COOLING TREND THROUGH FRIDAY. THE MARINE
LAYER WILL DEEPEN A BIT EACH DAY WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS...WITH SOME
DRIZZLE POSSIBLE EACH MORNING. IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS...GUSTY
WEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ALTHOUGH SOME
MINIMAL WARMING WILL OCCUR THIS WEEKEND...HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD
BACK OVER THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK. THEREFORE...EXPECT THE
WARMING TREND TO CONTINUE...WITH LESS MARINE CLOUDS POSSIBLE.
&&
.DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE...
SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTIES...
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY CONTINUES TO SHOW A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE
SITTING OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS AFTERNOON...WITH A SECONDARY
SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THE FLOW AND INTO CALIFORNIA.
ALTHOUGH THERE IS LITTLE IF ANY CLOUD COVER ASSOCIATED WITH THESE
TROUGHS...COOLER AIR IS STARTING TO SETTLE OVER THE REGION. THIS
COOLER AIR COMBINED WITH THE LOWER HEIGHTS AND A DEEPER MARINE LAYER
THIS MORNING TO KEEP TEMPERATURES ROUGHLY 2 TO 5 DEGREES COOLER THAN
THIS TIME YESTERDAY. THE DEEPER MARINE LAYER IS ALSO HAVING A HARD
TIME MIXING OUT ALONG THE COAST...KEEPING TEMPERATURES FROM WARMING
PAST THE MID 60S. HOWEVER...AM NOT GIVING UP HOPE YET THEY WILL
HAVE SOME PARTIAL CLEARING IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS...AND WARM UP
ANOTHER COUPLE OF DEGREES. THIS JUST MEANS THAT THE MARINE LAYER
WILL COME BACK IN QUICKLY THIS EVENING...WITH THE STRONGER ONSHORE
FLOW. MEANWHILE...HEAT FINALLY SEEMS TO BE TURNED ON IN THE
DESERTS...AS THEY ARE THE ONLY LOCATIONS ACTUALLY RUNNING WARMER
THAN YESTERDAY AND WELL INTO THE TRIPLE DIGITS BY NOON. AT THIS
TIME...A FEW LOCATIONS ARE GETTING A LITTLE GUSTY...BUT MOST ARE
EITHER AROUND OR LESS THAN 30 MPH. THEREFORE...NOT ANTICIPATING THE
NEED FOR A WIND ADVISORY THIS EVENING.
THIS TROUGH WILL REMAIN OVER THE WEST THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE
WORK WEEK...BRINGING MORE COOLING TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. AS A
RESULT...TEMPERATURES WILL COOL A BIT EACH DAY...WITH THE ONLY
EXCEPTION MAY BE THE COASTAL AREAS. THIS MEANS THAT TEMPERATURES
WILL FALL 5 TO 15 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL FOR THESE DAYS. THE MARINE
LAYER WILL ALSO DEEPEN A BIT EACH DAY TO BETWEEN 2500 AND 3000
FEET...WITH THE LOW CLOUDS AND FOG A LITTLE SLOWER TO BURN OFF THESE
DAYS WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS. EVEN SOME DRIZZLE WILL BE POSSIBLE
DURING THE LATE NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING HOURS...WITH ONLY SOME
PARTIAL CLEARING AT BEST ALONG THE COAST. OTHERWISE...EXPECT
ONSHORE GRADIENTS TO INCREASE EVEN...WITH GUSTY WEST WINDS TO
DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
THE UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT STILL DOES NOT LOOK THAT IMPRESSIVE...BUT IS
TRENDING A LITTLE STRONGER ON THE 18Z MODELS THAN THE 12Z VERSIONS.
THEREFORE...NOT ANTICIPATING THE NEED FOR A WIND ADVISORY IN THE
MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS...BUT
WILL NEED TO CLOSELY WATCH THE GRADIENTS AND UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT IN
THE NEXT COUPLE OF MODELS RUNS.
THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL START TO LIFT TO THE EAST THIS WEEKEND.
AT THIS POINT IN TIME...IT LOOKS LIKE ONLY MINOR WARMING WILL OCCUR
THESE DAYS. HOWEVER...HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD BACK OVER THE REGION
FOR NEXT WEEK...WITH THE MODELS HINTING AT THE POTENTIAL FOR A
PRETTY DECENT WARM UP BY MIDWEEK. THEREFORE...HAVE STARTED TRENDING
TEMPERATURES UP...WITH A SUPPRESSED MARINE LAYER.
&&
.AVIATION...
152005Z...OVC STRATUS LAYER OVER WATER TO 5SM INLAND...BASES AROUND
FL009 AND TOPS NEAR FL020. BETWEEN 2300-16/0700 UTC STRATUS
SPREADING INLAND TO COASTAL SLOPES OF MTNS AND LAYER LIFTING...WITH
BASES FL020 AND TOPS FL030-035. LAYER BECOMING BKN-SCT AFTER
16/1800 UTC.
&&
.MARINE...
INNER WATERS BUOY OBSERVATIONS AND SURF CAMS INDICATE SLIGHT
INCREASE IN WAVE HEIGHTS SINCE THIS MORNING. NO CHANGE IN WAMIII
MODEL GUIDANCE. WILL GO WITH ABOVE NORMAL SURF FORECAST FOR
THURSDAY/FRIDAY WITH OCCASIONAL SETS 8 FEET ON SOUTH FACING BEACHES.
&&
.SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC...PALMER
AVIATION/MARINE...BALFOUR
NWS ON THE WEB AT WEATHER.GOV/SANDIEGO
Strong Wind, Coachella Valley
- When
- June 15, 7:00 PM PST to June 16, 8:00 PM PST
- Where
- Coachella Valley forecast zone
- Measured
- 49 kt (56 mph) measured gust
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Reported by
- RAWS
- Coordinates
- 33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Strong winds began at the Whitewater RAWS between 1800 and 1900 PST on the 15th and ended between 0400 and 0500 PST on the 17th. A peak gust of 56 MPH was recorded between 0600 and 0700 PST on the 16th.
These strong winds were responsible for two overturned big rigs along Highway 111 just south of Overture Drive. No one was injured, but officers asked high profile vehicles to avoid the wind-prone area of Hwy 111 and even began turning them away from the area.|Hwy 111 was eventually shut down for a time from Interstate 10 past Overture Drive for about four hours.
Strong Wind, Coachella Valley
- When
- June 16, 12:00 PM PST to June 17, 12:00 AM PST
- Where
- Coachella Valley forecast zone
- Measured
- 29 kt (33 mph) measured gust
- Injuries
- 6 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- Newspaper
- Coordinates
- 33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Strong winds in Coachella had kicked up a cloud of dust on the evening of the 16th. The winds coupled with the dust were blamed for a pile-up involving 5 vehicles and 3 semi-trucks. Visibility was reported to be near zero at the time of the crash around 1610 PST. Several people were taken to the hospital for non-serious injuries. Highway 86 was shutdown between Avenues 50 and 52 for several hours, reopening around 2000 PST that night. The Thermal Airport was reporting sustained winds of 20 MPH with gusts to around 30 MPH around the time of the crash.
Strong Wind, Coachella Valley
- When
- June 17, 11:00 AM PST to 6:00 PM PST
- Where
- Coachella Valley forecast zone
- Measured
- 24 kt (28 mph) measured gust
- Property damage
- $5,000
- Reported by
- ASOS
- Coordinates
- 33.744, -115.994 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Strong winds began at the Palm Springs International Airport between 1000 and 1100 PST and ended between 1700 and 1800 PST on the 17th. During this time a peak gust of 28 MPH was recorded.
During the gusty winds, a small experimental plane flipped up on its nose after landing at the Palm Springs Airport. It flipped while turning to taxi on the runway. The pilot was the only passenger and not injured.
- Strong Wind
- Non-thunderstorm winds below high wind criteria that nonetheless caused damage or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, June 15, 201124 injured · $62,000 · 60 kt wind · 8 events
- Hail and Lightning Strike in Indiana, June 15, 20111 death · 1 injured · $150,000 · 0.75 in hail · 2 events
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, June 15 to 16, 2011$7.8 million · 1.75 in hail · 55 events
- Heat in Oklahoma, June 15, 20111 death · 1 event
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Alabama, June 15 to 16, 20111 injured · $81,000 · 2.75 in hail · 48 events
- Damaging Winds in South Carolina, June 15, 2011$209,000 · 60 kt wind · 30 events
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, June 15, 2011$300,000 · 1.75 in hail · 21 events
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, June 15, 2011$52,000 · 2.5 in hail · 45 events
- Flooding in Utah, June 15 to 23, 2011$300,000 · 3 events
- Flooding in Illinois, June 15 to 16, 2011$250,000 · 2 events
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Alabama, June 15 to 18, 20111 injured · $36,000 · 1.75 in hail · 32 events
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, June 15, 2011$100,000 · 2 in hail · 18 events
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: 321302, 321307, 321314.