Wildfire in California, August 1 to 31, 2013

Name: Wildfire in California, August 1 to 31, 2013
Start: 2013-08-01T00:00
End: 2013-08-31T23:59
Location: California

August 1 to 31, 2013 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The Aspen Fire was in the Sierra NF and the ignition was on 7/22/13. The cause was lightning and the location was 7 Miles North-Northwest of Big Creek (Fresno County) and the size was 22,992 acres.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS HNX wrote it up.

The Aspen Fire was in the Sierra NF and the ignition was on 7/22/13. The cause was lightning and the location was 7 Miles North-Northwest of Big Creek (Fresno County) and the size was 22,992 acres. Containment was reached on 9/8/13 and the cost to containment was $32,289,100.

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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 1:52 PM PST, 10 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 1:52 PM PST, 10 hours 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
252 PM PDT WED JUL 31 2013

.SYNOPSIS...
A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM STILL IN PLACE OFF OF THE WEST COAST WILL
CONTINUE TO BRING A SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW TO THE REGION KEEPING THE
WEATHER DRY AND TEMPERATURES NEAR NORMAL THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
THE WEATHER PATTERN OVER CALIFORNIA CONTINUES TO BE DOMINATED BY
AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OFF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST AND A RIDGE
OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE SOUTHWEST U.S. CIRCULATION IN BETWEEN
THESE FEATURES WILL MAINTAIN A DRY SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW OVER THE
STATE THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. A COUPLE OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES
WILL MOVE THROUGH THE TROUGH OVER NCAL TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. THIS
WILL INCREASE THE ONSHORE GRADIENTS AND BRING STRONGER BREEZES TO
HELP MITIGATE THE SMOKE AND HAZE IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. THE
MARINE LAYER ALONG THE CENTRAL COAST IS 1600-1900 FEET SHOULD
DEEPEN A BIT THROUGH THURSDAY AND MAINTAIN THE WARM DRY
CONDITIONS. THE UPPER LOW WILL MOVE INLAND OVER THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT FOR
MUCH OF THE PERIOD. AS THE MAIN UPPER LOW MOVES OUT OF THE PACNW
INTO CANADA...MODELS DEVELOP ANOTHER TROUGH ALONG THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST WHICH WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE NCAL COAST THROUGH EARLY
NEXT WEEK. THIS MAY CONTINUE TO PROVIDE A DRY SW FLOW INTO
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK.

&&

.AVIATION...
AREAS OF MFVR VISIBILITIES IN SMOKE/HAZE FROM THE ASPEN WILDFIRE.
OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE CENTRAL CA
INTERIOR DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND MARIPOSA COUNTY AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
DISTRICTS HAVE ISSUED AN AIR QUALITY ALERT DUE TO SMOKE IMPACTS IN
MARIPOSA... MERCED... MADERA...FRESNO...KINGS...TULARE AND THE
VALLEY PORTION OF KERN COUNTIES.

THIS AIR QUALITY ALERT IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PDT THURSDAY AUGUST 1.

PLEASE SEE SFOAQAHNX

&&

.CERTAINTY...

THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 1 AND 2 IS HIGH.
THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7 IS MEDIUM.

THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED AS PART OF A TRIAL PROJECT CONDUCTED
BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD.
CERTAINTY LEVELS INCLUDE LOW...MEDIUM...AND HIGH. PLEASE VISIT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HNX/CERTAINTY.PHP /ALL LOWER CASE/ FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND/OR TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK.

&&

.CLIMATE...
             RECORDS
SITE DATE    HI_MAX:YEAR LO_MAX:YEAR HI_MIN:YEAR LO_MIN:YEAR

KFAT 07-31      114:1908     83:1976     81:1908     53:1895
KFAT 08-01      112:1908     79:1933     86:1908     56:1888
KFAT 08-02      112:1908     83:1953     82:1908     53:1956

KBFL 07-31      110:1943     60:1916     79:1982     55:1905
KBFL 08-01      112:1979     86:1985     80:2000     53:1912
KBFL 08-02      109:1979     86:1976     84:1977     53:1912
&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

PUBLIC...MV
AVN/FW...DURFEE
SYNOPSIS...ANDERSEN

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, S Sierra Foothills

When: August 1, 12:00 AM PST to August 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2013 Every state in 2013 This day in weather history Warnings in California, August 2013

Sources

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: 510086.