The Canyon fire started around 1052 PST on the 6th as three separate fires, near the intersection of Lambs Canyon Road and Gilman Springs Road near Beaumont in Riverside County. One firefighter received minor fire-related injuries and was transported by paramedics for treatment.
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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.
The Canyon fire started around 1052 PST on the 6th as three separate fires, near the intersection of Lambs Canyon Road and Gilman Springs Road near Beaumont in Riverside County. One firefighter received minor fire-related injuries and was transported by paramedics for treatment. The fire burned a total of 3 acres before being fully contained around 1150 PST the same day. The cause of the fire is unknown. CHP closed the #2 lane on northbound Highway 79 for a time.
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 Sep 6, 8:30 AM PST, 2 hours 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 930 AM PDT THU SEP 6 2012 .SYNOPSIS... RESIDUAL MOISTURE COULD BRING AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM TO THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON...BUT OTHERWISE FAIR WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY. WARM WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE WEEKEND UNDER HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT...WITH ONLY PATCHY NIGHT AND MORNING LOW CLOUDS AND FOG NEAR THE COAST. MOISTURE WILL INCREASE AGAIN FROM THE EAST AND BRING A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS OVER THE WEEKEND. A RETURN TO WEST FLOW WILL BRING COOLER DRIER AIR TO THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH MORE LOW CLOUDS AND FOG NEAR THE COAST. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... PATCHY STRATUS HAD RETREATED TO THE COASTAL WATERS BY 830 AM...WITH CLEAR SKIES ELSEWHERE. NKX SOUNDING SHOWED 1.55 INCHES OF PRECIPITABLE WATER...FAIRLY HIGH...BUT INSTABILITY IS LACKING OVER THE REGION. 12Z NAM SHOWED UP TO 250 J/KG CAPE OVER THE SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS...BUT EVEN THAT WILL PROBABLY NOT BE ENOUGH TO GENERATE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. WE HAVE LEFT THE SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTORMS ONLY IN THE SBD MTNS AND REMOVED THEM EVERYWHERE ELSE. DEW POINTS ARE MODERATE IN THE MOUNTAINS...MOSTLY IN THE 40S AND 50S...WITH THAT DRY LAYER JUST BELOW 850 MB STILL EVIDENT IN A FEW AREAS WITH DEW POINTS BELOW 40. SLIGHT DRYING WITH LITTLE CHANGE IN INSTABILITY IS EXPECTED FRIDAY...SO TSTORMS WERE KEPT OUT OF THE FORECAST FRIDAY. WEAK ONSHORE FLOW SHOULD BRING SOME OF THE STRATUS/FOG BACK TO THE COAST TONIGHT...WITH LOCAL 12Z WRF SHOWING AN INCREASE IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER RH ALONG THE SAN DIEGO/ORANGE COUNTY COAST TO SUPPORT THIS. HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL CONTINUE ALONG AN E-W AXIS ALONG MOST OF THE US-MEXICO BORDER FROM CALIFORNIA TO TEXAS THROUGH FRIDAY...THEN EXPAND A BIT OVER THE WESTERN US OVER THE WEEKEND. THE UPPER LOW OFF THE N CAL COAST WILL DRIFT W A BIT. MODELS HAVE BEEN SHOWING A VERY WEAK INVERTED TROUGH COUPLED WITH A BIT OF TROPOPAUSE FOLDING OVER N BAJA CALIFORNIA OVER THE WEEKEND...WITH THAT DISTURBANCE POSSIBLY MOVING N INTO SO-CAL SUNDAY. THE TRIGGER WILL COMBINE WITH MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY...NAM CAPES ALREADY OVER 1000 J/KG FOR MANY MTN AREAS SUNDAY...3 DAYS AWAY...SO SCATTERED TSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE MTNS. GIVEN THE TRIGGER PLUS SOME ELEVATED CAPE...THERE COULD EVEN BE NOCTURNAL TSTORM ACTIVITY SAT NIGHT. MONDAY WILL BE THE TRANSITION DAY WITH DRIER WEST FLOW DEVELOPING DUE TO TROUGHING OVER THE WEST COAST...BUT ENOUGH MOISTURE MAY REMAIN FOR ISOLATED TSTORMS ON THE DESERT SLOPES. THE TROUGH WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR MORE MARINE DEVELOPMENT EARLY NEXT WEEK AS WELL AS COOLING REGIONWIDE. WE COULD GET SOME WARMING BY MID WEEK AS SOME RIDGING DEVELOPS. && .AVIATION... 061525Z...THROUGH 1800 UTC BELOW 1300 FT MSL HAZE LAYER OVER WATER/INLAND 5SM WITH VSBY 4-6SM ALONG WITH FEW-SCT STRATUS WITH BASES 1000 FT MSL AND TOPS 1300 FT MSL...ELSEWHERE SKC. 1800 UTC-0200 UTC...SCT CU/TCU OVER MTNS WITH BASES 10000 FT MSL TOPS 20000 FT MSL...ISOLD TSTMS WITH TOPS TO FL450. AFTER 0200 UTC...OVER WATER/INLAND 5SM SCT STRATUS INCREASING TO BKN-OVC WITH BASES 800-1000 FT MSL TOPS 1200 FT MSL...MAY IMPACT KSAN AND KCRQ WITH CIGS AOB 800 FT MSL AND VSBY 3-5SM BETWEEN 0600Z-1500Z...ELSEWHERE SCT-FEW CLOUDS AOA 15000 FT MSL. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && PUBLIC...MAXWELL AVIATION...BALFOUR
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 1100 AM PDT THU SEP 6 2012 CAZ055-056-058-060>062-070200- SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-RIVERSIDE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-APPLE AND LUCERNE VALLEYS-COACHELLA VALLEY-SAN DIEGO COUNTY DESERTS- 1100 AM PDT THU SEP 6 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS OF EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS. CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING WILL BE POSSIBLE AS WELL AS BRIEF HEAVY RAIN. THE FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL IS LOW. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN WEATHER ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED FOR TODAY...HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS. MAXWELL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in California, September 2012
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: 413262.