Wildfire in California, September 7 to 16, 2015

Name: Wildfire in California, September 7 to 16, 2015
Start: 2015-09-07T20:30
End: 2015-09-16T17:00
Location: California

September 7 to 16, 2015 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The Tenaya fire began on the evening of September 7, 2015, in Yosemite National Park, approximately 2 miles north of Yosemite Valley. The cause is under investigation.

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 Tenaya fire began on the evening of September 7, 2015, in Yosemite National Park, approximately 2 miles north of Yosemite Valley. The cause is under investigation. The fire burned 415 acres before being contained on September 16. There were no structures lost. The cost of containment was $1.9 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 Sep 7, 1:32 PM PST, 6 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 7, 1:32 PM PST, 6 hours 58 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
232 PM PDT MON SEP 7 2015

.SYNOPSIS...
MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND INCREASING TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED FOR
THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS AS HIGH PRESSURE MOVES IN OVER THE REGION.

&&

.DISCUSSION...UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE DESERT SOUTHWEST
CONTINUES TO SLOWLY NUDGE WEST INTO SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA THIS AFTERNOON...RESULTING IN A WARMING TREND.
AT 2 PM...TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...THE
SURROUNDING FOOTHILLS...AND THE DESERT WERE GENERALLY IN THE UPPER
80S TO MID 90S. THESE TEMPERATURES ARE BETWEEN 4 AND 8 DEGREES
WARMER COMPARED TO 24 HOUR AG0. ANOTHER FEW DEGREES OF WARMING CAN
BE EXPECTED BEFORE SUNSET.

SMOKE FROM THE ROUGH FIRE NEAR HUME LAKE CONTINUES TO IMPACT THE
FOOTHILL COMMUNITIES IN FRESNO AND MADERA COUNTIES AND IS FORECAST
TO CONTINUE FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT FEW DAYS IF NOT THROUGH THE END
OF THE WORK WEEK. WINDS OVER THE FIRE WILL MAINLY BE LIGHT AND
VARIABLE...WITH NO MAJOR WEATHER SYSTEMS FORECAST TO BLOW THE
SMOKE OUT OF THE AREA.

HIGH PRESSURE IS FORECAST TO AMPLIFY AND SHIFT NORTHWEST INTO THE
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BY THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK...ALLOWING
TEMPERATURES TO CONTINUE TO RISE EACH AFTERNOON THROUGH AT LEAST
THE END OF THE WORK WEEK. BY TUESDAY...MUCH OF THE SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY AND DESERT WILL SEE TEMPERATURES REACH THE CENTURY
MARK...ALONG WITH A FEW FOOTHILL LOCATIONS. BY
WEDNESDAY...WIDESPREAD 100 DEGREE TEMPERATURES CAN BE EXPECTED.

ALTHOUGH TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO WARM TO 10 TO 13 DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL...AS OF NOW...NO RECORDS ARE FORECAST FOR BAKERSFIELD
OR FRESNO. MOST RECORDS FOR THIS TIME FRAME RANGE FROM 107 TO
110...SO IT LOOKS LIKE WE WILL BE A FEW DEGREES SHORT ON ANY GIVEN
DAY. WE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS CLOSELY...BUT AS OF NOW THE
RECORDS LOOK LIKE THEY WILL HOLD.

SUBTLE COOLING IS FORECAST FOR SUNDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH
IMPACTS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA...ALLOWING 500 MB HEIGHTS TO FALL
SLIGHTLY. HOWEVER...EVEN WITH THIS SUBTLE COOLING...MANY LOCATIONS
WILL STILL SEE TEMPERATURES RIGHT AT 100 DEGREES.

&&

.AVIATION...
AREAS OF MVFR AND LOCAL IFR VISIBILITIES CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE
FOOTHILLS AND HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA DUE TO
SMOKE. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE CENTRAL
CA INTERIOR DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
ON TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8 2015... UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS IN
FRESNO... KERN... MADERA AND TULARE COUNTIES 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 HIGH.

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 09-07      108:1904     77:1893     73:1998     50:1964
KFAT 09-08      108:1904     76:1931     74:1998     49:1897
KFAT 09-09      107:1904     75:1985     76:1888     50:1964

KBFL 09-07      110:1977     77:1978     78:1977     45:1901
KBFL 09-08      109:1904     77:1914     78:1977     47:1915
KBFL 09-09      108:1904     76:1985     80:1982     48:1901
&&

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

PUBLIC...RILEY
AVN/FW...ANDERSEN
SYNOPSIS...BSO

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, South Sierra Mountains

When: September 7, 8:30 PM PST to September 16, 5:00 PM PST
Where: South Sierra Mountains 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 2015 Every state in 2015 This day in weather history Warnings in California, September 2015

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: 598353.