The Pilot fire began on August 7 around 1106 PST near Miller Canyon OHV off of Highway 138, San Bernardino County. The fire spread rapidly to the north, with much of the total acreage burned within the first couple of days.
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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.
The Pilot fire began on August 7 around 1106 PST near Miller Canyon OHV off of Highway 138, San Bernardino County. The fire spread rapidly to the north, with much of the total acreage burned within the first couple of days. A mandatory evacuation order was issued areas north of SR 173, south of Hesperia Lake Road, and Arrowhead Lake Road. Road closures included Highway 173 between SR 138 and Arrowhead Lake Road, as well as the Miller Canyon OHV and Forest Service Roads 2N33, 2N17X, 2N36, 2N37. Cause of the fire, as well as damaged structures and any injuries are unknown. The fire burned 8,115 acres before being fully contained on August 12 around 1200 PST.
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 Aug 7, 7:22 AM PST, 3 hours 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service San Diego CA 822 AM PDT SUN AUG 7 2016 .SYNOPSIS... A trough of low pressure along the West Coast will keep a dry, southwest flow aloft and slightly below average temperatures over southern California through much of the week. The marine layer and onshore flow will continue areas of coastal low clouds and patchy fog each night and morning, extending into the valleys. A little warmer by the weekend as high pressure rebuilds. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... Marine clouds were extensive again this morning over the coastal waters and inland up to 30 miles across the coastal basin. Above the marine layer and inland over the mts/deserts, skies were clear. The 12Z Miramar sounding indicated an unexpected 500 FT drop in the depth of the marine layer, with the base of a 10 degree C inversion near 2500 FT. The sfc pressure gradients were barely holding onshore to NV, but continued onshore around 6 MBS KSAN to the deserts. Only minor changes are expected in our weather today due to the change in depth of the marine layer and a continued cooling of the sea surface temperatures. The near-shore buoys have all shown a drop of between 2 and 3 degrees F over the past few days. This will contribute to both low/high temps along the coast trending closer to average, or slightly below for the next few days. The synoptic pattern will not change much this week, with a longwave trough over the west, and a strong ridge over the eastern half of the country. The trough reaches maximum amplitude about Wed, then slowly drifts east, so look for extensive marine clouds/patchy fog each night/morning, followed by sunny and mild days. As the trough drifts east late in the week, heights/thickness recover across the SW, which will bring warmer weather and less extensive low clouds. While monsoonal moisture will return to the Desert SW this week, it does not look it will make it this far west due to SW flow aloft. And even though the models show some return of mid-level moisture here late in the week, the pattern is not supportive of any shwr/tstm activity over our mts/deserts. The latest operational runs of the GEM/ECMWF/GFS all favor a return of the western longwave trough/eastern ridge pattern next week. This also does not favor a return of the Monsoon to SoCal through mid month. && .AVIATION... 071500Z...Coast/Valleys...Low clouds, with bases of 1300-2100 ft MSL and tops near 2500 ft MSL, will slowly clear in the valleys this morning, and likely linger along the coast throughout the day due to a 10 C marine layer inversion. Vis of 3-5 SM BR/HZ over inland areas will become P6SM by late morning. Low clouds, with slightly lower tops and bases, will redevelop and push around 30 miles inland by early Monday morning. Mtns/Deserts...Mostly clear with unrestricted vis through Monday morning. && .MARINE... No hazardous marine weather is expected 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...JAD AVIATION/MARINE...JJT
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 2016
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: 656758.