Residual instability left over from nocturnal convection over Arizona and southeast California moved through southwestern California, helping to initiate showers and thunderstorms over portions of the San Diego County mountains. A separate upper-level low disturbance helped to trigger thunderstorms all the way to the coast and coastal waters during the morning hours.
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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.
Residual instability left over from nocturnal convection over Arizona and southeast California moved through southwestern California, helping to initiate showers and thunderstorms over portions of the San Diego County mountains. A separate upper-level low disturbance helped to trigger thunderstorms all the way to the coast and coastal waters during the morning hours. A lightning strike near Encinitas burned the side of a home. Most coastal and valley locations received one-tenth of an inch or less, though a few locations received significantly more, such as 0.57 inch in Del Mar. This disturbance continued to provide enough instability for thunderstorms over the high desert and San Bernardino County mountains, generating up to 0.87 inch. CHP reported flash flooding on Highway 79 at Fink Road and closed the highway at mile marker 46.
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 Jul 27, 8:22 AM PST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 922 AM PDT SUN JUL 27 2014 .SYNOPSIS... MONSOONAL MOISTURE BEING TRANSPORTED ACROSS THE AREA WILL CONTINUE THE POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MONDAY...MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE REGION THIS WEEK WILL ELIMINATE THE POSSIBILITY OF PRECIPITATION...AND CREATE NEAR SEASONAL HIGH TEMPERATURES. THE HIGH WILL ALSO CREATE A SHALLOWER MARINE LAYER THROUGHOUT THE WEEK...WITH NIGHT AND MORNING LOW CLOUDS AND FOG BEING RESTRICTED TO THE COAST. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... AT 900 AM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A BROAD AREA OF WEAKENING THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN IMPERIAL COUNTY...AND DEVELOPING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER PORTIONS OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY DISPLAYED BROAD UPPER-LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE STRETCHING FROM NORTHERN TEXAS TO NORTHERN ARIZONA. VISIBLE SATELLITE SHOWED MULTIPLE CLOUD LAYERS ACROSS THE CWA...WITH LOW CLOUDS ALONG THE COAST. THE 27/1200 UTC KNKX SOUNDING DISPLAYED WEAK UPPER-LEVEL INSTABILITY...WITH A PWAT OF 1.62 IN AND DRY AIR IN THE LOWER LEVELS. ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS MORNING...MAINLY OVER PORTIONS OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY. STORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON IS FORECAST TO BE LIMITED TO THE MOUNTAINS...DESERTS AND FAR INLAND VALLEYS. GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS MAY DEVELOP FROM THUNDERSTORMS...ALONG WITH BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND REDUCED VISIBILITY. STRONGEST STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. A WEAK UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCE NEAR CENTRAL BAJA WILL MOVE NORTH OVER THE CWA THIS EVENING INTO TONIGHT. MONSOONAL MOISTURE OVER THE AREA...COMBINED WITH SUFFICIENT INSTABILITY FROM THIS DISTURBANCE...WILL CONTINUE THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. MOISTURE AND DIURNAL HEATING WILL CREATE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS AGAIN MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE AFOREMENTIONED UPPER-LEVEL HIGH WILL TRAVERSE WESTWARD TOWARDS SW CA BY TUESDAY...AND HELP TRANSPORT DRIER AIR INTO THE REGION. SOME CUMULUS BUILD-UPS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE RIDGE TOPS TUESDAY WITH LINGERING MOISTURE...BUT IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE ENOUGH FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. THE HIGH WILL CREATE A MORE SHALLOW MARINE LAYER BY THE END OF THE WEEK...AND MODERATE TEMPERATURES TO NEAR NORMAL. THE HIGH WILL EVENTUALLY SHIFT SLIGHTLY EAST BY NEXT WEEKEND. THIS IS WHERE THE 27/0600 GFS AND 27/0000 ECMWF DIFFER AS THEY BOTH RETURN SOME MONSOONAL MOISTURE TO THE AREA...BUT TIMING AND AMOUNTS VARY BETWEEN THE MODELS. && .AVIATION... 271500Z...COASTS/VALLEYS...PATCHY LOW CLOUDS THIS MORNING WITHIN ABOUT 10 SM OF THE COAST. PERIODS OF CIGS 900-1300 FT MSL AT THE COASTAL AIRPORTS...BECOMING SCT AFT 16Z. BKN-OVC CIGS 1000-1500 FT MSL AT THE COASTAL AIRPORTS AGAIN AFTER 28/08Z. CONFIDENCE IN THE TIMING IS LOW TO MODERATE. OTHERWISE...SCT-BKN CLOUDS ABOVE 10000 FEET WITH ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS THROUGH THIS EVENING. MOUNTAINS/DESERTS...CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH BASES AROUND 8000 FT MSL AND LAYERS TO 35000 FT LATE THIS MORNING INTO THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL...ALONG WITH GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS. && .MARINE... 9 AM PDT...ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS OVER THE COASTAL WATERS TODAY. NO HAZARDOUS MARINE WEATHER MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. && .SKYWARN... SKYWARN ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED. HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... CA...NONE. PZ...NONE. && PUBLIC...JJT AVIATION/MARINE...PG
The San Diego radar (KNKX), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:31 UTC.
2 flash flood, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a palm tree, which caught fire, burning the side of a home in Encinitas just south of San Elijo Lagoon.
A downpour at La Jolla Shores caused quite significant water flow through the Boat Launch at the foot of Avenida de la Playa. Part of the HPS chain link fence in front of the outfall structure washed down into the Boat Launch area posing a significant hazard. Significant sand erosion occurred at the area as well.
CHP reported flash flooding on Highway 79 at Fink Road. The water was very muddy, fast-flowing and several feet deep in places. CHP closed the highway at mile marker 46.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 2014
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: 535041, 535050, 535042.