Name: Wildfire in California, August 2, 2014
Start: 2014-08-02T12:30
End: 2014-08-02T14:30
Location: California

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 STO wrote it up.

A weak ridge of high pressure was over the fire in advance of a weather system off the northern CA Coast. It was a mostly sunny (cirrus clouds) and a hot day (Valley temps in the low 100's with foothill and mountain valleys in the mid to upper 90s). The winds at the surface were light. All these ingredients were conducive for surface eddy (dust devil/fire whirl) development. No residences were burned in the fire whirl, but an outbuilding was destroyed.

The fire itself caused 11 injuries, burned 7 residences, 2 commercial properties, and 12 outbuildings. There were 32,416 acres burned. The fire began the night of July 31st.

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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 2, 9:11 AM PST, 3 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 9:11 AM PST, 3 hours 19 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
1011 AM PDT Sat Aug 2 2014

.Synopsis...
Another day of hot temperatures today but with a gradual cooling
trend into early next week. A return to Sierra showers and
thunderstorms Sunday into next week.

&&

Discussion...
Today will be the calm before the storm. Models are in good
agreement on bringing up a wave from the south Sunday night with
the center of the circulation moving up to the Northern Sierra
Nevada south of I-80 by Monday morning. The wave will then lift
northwest over the Sacramento valley by Monday evening shifting
the focus of thunderstorm activity north of I-80 Monday night with
possible valley thunderstorms mainly for the central and northern
Sacramento valley. The low lingers along the coast for Tuesday to
keep chances of thunderstorms going mainly for the northern
mountains. Due to all the cloud cover expected daytime highs will
be much cooler than they have been by Monday with temperatures
starting to trend cooler on Sunday.

&&

.Extended Discussion (Wednesday through Saturday)

Extended models are suggesting a return of some moist southerly
flow over the area by next week as a weak low edges closer to the
coast and some ridging lingers somewhere over the western US.
NAEFS mean precipitable water ensembles continue to show an
increase in moisture Tuesday through Friday. In addition, GFS
MUCAPE and Total Totals during the extended show an increase over
the higher terrain for a threat of thunderstorms. Signatures are
not as abundant for Thursday and Friday afternoons, though
thunderstorms over the higher terrain cannot be ruled out.
Temperatures will be near to slightly above normal through the
extended.

&&

.Aviation...

VFR conds acrs int NorCal nxt 24 hrs with dry SWly flow aloft. Lcl
MVFR vsbys vcnty wildfires burning NE Shasta Co. Winds will remain
generally below 15 kts exc SW 15-25 kts near the Delta.

&&

.STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
None.
&&

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Burney Basin/Eastern Shasta County

When: August 2, 12:30 PM PST to 2:30 PM PST
Where: Burney Basin/Eastern Shasta County forecast zone
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

A large fire whirl created a 2 mile damage path, documented by Forest Service personnel, resulted in damage equivalent to an EF-0 EF-1 tornado. Whole large trees were pulled up out of the ground, the bark stripped off cedar trees, metal tightly wrapped around logs/poles, and a culvert pulled up that had been buried under dirt.

Radar signatures that day indicated there were no storms near the fire. The only radar signatures were of the smoke plume around the time of the fire whirl (between 1:30-3:30 PDT).

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

More

Every storm in California in 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in California, August 2014

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: 541635.