Wildfire in California, June 1 to 21, 2014

Name: Wildfire in California, June 1 to 21, 2014
Start: 2014-06-01T00:00
End: 2014-06-21T06:00
Location: California

June 1 to 21, 2014 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The Shirley wildfire started on May 13, 2014 and was contained on June 21, 2014. The fire was located 4 miles west of Wofford Heights in Kern County.

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 Shirley wildfire started on May 13, 2014 and was contained on June 21, 2014. The fire was located 4 miles west of Wofford Heights in Kern County. It burned 2545 acres and 4 structures were lost. There were no fatalities. The cost of containment was $12.15 million.

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 May 31, 2:00 PM PST, 10 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 2:00 PM PST, 10 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
300 PM PDT SAT MAY 31 2014

.SYNOPSIS...
A WEAK RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BRING DRY WEATHER AND
SLIGHTLY WARMER AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES TO THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
INTERIOR SUNDAY. MONDAY WILL BECOME BREEZY AND COOLER AS AN
UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE MOVES INLAND FROM THE PACIFIC.
THIS TROUGH WILL REMAIN OVER CALIFORNIA NEXT WEEK AND BRING A
DAILY THREAT OF ISOLATED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE SIERRA
CREST.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
DRY MARINE PUSH OF COOLER AIR SURGED INTO THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
TODAY. THIS PUSH OF COOLER AIR ALLOWED FOR MORE COMFORTABLE
CONDITIONS ACROSS THE VALLEY AS TEMPERATURES RAN SOME 5 TO 10
DEG-F BELOW THOSE OBSERVED ON FRIDAY. THE MARINE PUSH WAS A RESULT
OF AN UPPER TROF MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL CALIFORNIA TODAY AND WILL
BE EAST OF THE DISTRICT LATE TONIGHT. WHILE WINDS WERE NOT AN
ISSUE DURING THIS TROF PASSAGE...AN INFLUX OF MARINE AIR ALLOWED
FOR BETTER HUMIDITY VALUES THIS AFTERNOON...WITH EVEN BETTER
RECOVERY VALUES EXPECTED TONIGHT. OTHERWISE...SUNNY SKIES
DOMINATED THE REGION WITH A BREEZE ACROSS THE KERN COUNTY
MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS.

WHILE SUNDAY WILL SEE SIMILAR SKY CONDITIONS...THE TREND IN
TEMPERATURES WILL BE GOING UP AND WINDS LOWERING AS THE MARINE
PUSH DIMINISHES. ON SUNDAY...THE LOWER ELEVATIONS COULD SEE A RISE
IN TEMPERATURES FROM 4 TO 6 DEG-F WHILE WINDS CONTINUE TO DIE-OFF.
SHORT RANGE MODELS PROG THE SFO TO LAS SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT
TO RELAX FROM NEAR 10MB TO AROUND 5MB...FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY.
YET...THE WARMING TREND WILL BE SHORT LIVED AS MODELS PROG THE
INTRODUCTION OF ANOTHER SHORT-WAVE TROF APPROACHING THE WEST COAST
TOWARD MONDAY. MODELS HAVE A VERY GOOD HANDLE ON THIS TROF
SOLUTION AS BOTH DETERMINISTIC AND PROBABILISTIC MODELS SHOW
SIMILAR TIMING OF INTRODUCING A TROF ON MONDAY NEAR MID-DAY.
WITH THIS...ANOTHER MARINE PUSH OF COOLER AIR WILL BE POSSIBLE. IN
ADDITION...MODELS SHOW A DEEPER TROF ON MONDAY...WHICH COULD ALLOW
FOR AN INCREASE IN SURFACE WINDS. MODELS ARE PROGGING SIMILAR
SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT...WHICH COULD ALLOW FOR STRONG WINDS
ACROSS THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. IN ADDITION...MODELS
ARE NOW SHOWING A JET MAX CROSSING THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA ON
MONDAY WITH 250MB WIND SPEEDS NEAR 90KTS. THEREFORE...SUPPORT
EXIST FOR EVEN STRONGER WINDS ON MONDAY. AT THE MOMENT...
WILL HOLD OFF ON ISSUING ANY EXTRA PRODUCTS HIGH-LIGHTING
POSSIBLE WIND ADVISORY TO SEE OF THE TREND HOLD THIS EVENING //THE
FORECAST PERIOD FALLS BELOW 48 HOURS//. WILL RE-EVALUATE WINDS THIS
EVENING AND TAKE THE APPROPRIATE ACTIONS NEEDED. LONGER RANGE
MODELS SHOW ADDITION TROF PUSHING THROUGH THE REGION...WHICH WILL
PREVENT ANY SIGNIFICANT RISE IN TEMPERATURES DURING THE FORECAST
PERIOD.

&&

.AVIATION...
VFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGHOUT THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
INTERIOR DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
ON SUNDAY JUNE 1 2014... UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS IN KERN
COUNTY AND SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK AND FOREST.
FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT VALLEYAIR.ORG

&&

.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 05-31      110:1910     68:1971     72:1910     46:1923
KFAT 06-01      105:1910     60:1953     71:2001     44:1955
KFAT 06-02      106:1960     67:1985     70:1960     45:1902

KBFL 05-31      110:1910     70:1967     76:2002     44:1923
KBFL 06-01      110:1970     65:1953     75:1970     39:1908
KBFL 06-02      109:1970     66:1999     78:1960     38:1908
&&

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

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

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Kern Cty Mtns

When: June 1, 12:00 AM PST to June 21, 6:00 AM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns 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 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in California, June 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: 529059.