A trough of low pressure sliding through the great basin brought strong winds to the mountains and deserts. The strongest winds occurred over San Bernardino County.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
A trough of low pressure sliding through the great basin brought strong winds to the mountains and deserts. The strongest winds occurred over San Bernardino County.
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 Feb 17, 9:23 PM PST, 3 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
923 PM PST WED FEB 17 2016
.SYNOPSIS... A WEAKENING COLD FRONT WILL SPREAD SHOWERS ACROSS THE
REGION OVERNIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS ARE
DEVELOPING ALONG THE MOUNTAIN RIDGES AND WILL AFFECT PORTIONS OF THE
HIGH DESERT OVERNIGHT. IT WILL BE COOLER...WITH DAYTIME TEMPERATURES
CLOSER TO AVERAGE THROUGH FRIDAY...THEN A WARMING AND DRYING TREND
WILL OCCUR OVER THE WEEKEND. BY MONDAY...TEMPERATURES WILL AGAIN
BE NEAR RECORD LEVELS UNDER A STRONG HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE.
&&
.DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE...
SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTIES...
CLOUDS WERE THICKENING SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE CWA THIS EVENING AHEAD
OF A WEAKENING COLD FRONT. RADAR SHOWED A BROAD AREA OF LIGHT...TO
LOCALLY MODERATE PRECIPITATION AHEAD OF THE FRONT OVER LOS
ANGELES...SAN BERNARDINO...ORANGE...AND NW RIVERSIDE COUNTIES AT 8PM
PST. THE 00Z MIRAMAR SOUNDING HAD DEEP DRY LAYER BELOW ABOUT 12K FT
WITH INCREASING SW WINDS ALOFT FROM 20K TO AROUND 50 KT AT 18K FT.
PW WAS 0.68 INCH. THE DRY LAYER IS GRADUALLY MOISTENING THIS EVENING
AS A PLUME OF MOISTURE WITH PW VALUES OF UP TO 1.5 INCH IMPACTS THE
AREA.
RADAR IMAGERY SHOWED A NEARLY SOLID MASS OF ECHOES STREAMING FROM SW
TO NE ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE CWA. REPORTED RAINFALL AMOUNTS
HAVE BEEN MOSTLY LIGHT...BUT SOME OF THE UPPER COASTAL SLOPES OF THE
SAN BERNARDINO MTS HAVE ALREADY ACCUMULATED AROUND ONE INCH...AND A
BAND OF AROUND ONE-HALF INCH SOAKED THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY COAST SO
QPF HAS BEEN ADJUSTED UP SLIGHTLY FARTHER TO THE SOUTH BASED ON THE
LATEST HRRR/WRF/NAM4 HIRES RUNS. AMOUNTS ARE STILL EXPECTED TO BE ON
THE LIGHT SIDE.
THE FRONT IS FORECAST TO ENTER NW PORTIONS OF THE CWA BETWEEN 12Z
AND 15Z THU...THEN MOVE RAPIDLY SE AS IT WEAKENS...CLEARING OUT ANY
LINGERING SHOWERS. MOST OF THE RAIN IS EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE ON THE
COASTAL MTN SLOPES WHERE A FEW SPOTS COULD SEE A COUPLE OF INCHES
WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE. BUT DUE TO THE EXCESSIVE PW STREAMING
INTO THE AREA...IT WILL NOT TAKE MUCH LIFT TO SQUEEZE OUT ONE-
QUARTER INCH OR MORE ONCE THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE MOISTENS
SUFFICIENTLY. ON THE HIGHEST MTN PEAKS ABOVE 7500 FT...SEVERAL
INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE ALONG WITH STRONG WINDS THROUGH THU
MORNING. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT.
WIND ADVISORIES COVER THE SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS...WHILE A HIGH WIND
WARNING COVERS THE MOUNTAINS AND HIGH DESERTS OF SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTY. HIRES MODELS STILL SHOW STRONG MTN WAVE ACTIVITY ONTO THE
DESERTS FOOTHILLS AND LOCALLY OUT INTO THE HIGH DESERT LATE TONIGHT
AND THU MORNING. THE MODELS INDICATE GUSTS TO 75 MPH OR MORE ARE
POSSIBLE IN THE WINDIEST SPOTS.
THE SHOWERS WILL DISSIPATE RAPIDLY ON THU...FOLLOWED BY PARTLY
CLOUDY SKIES AND MORE SEASONAL TEMPERATURES THROUGH FRI. NEXT
WEEKEND... HIGH PRESSURE WILL GRADUALLY REBUILD ALONG THE WEST
COAST...SPARKING A WARMING TREND THAT WILL CULMINATE IN NEAR RECORD
HEAT AGAIN EARLY NEXT WEEK. SLIGHTLY COOLER AND DRY FOR THE LATTER
HALF OF THE WEEK.
THE NEXT CHANCE FOR ANY PRECIP WILL COME AT THE END OF THE MONTH
WHEN THE EXTENDED GFS MODEL SHOWS SOME WEAK WAVES MOVING OFF THE
PACIFIC AND ACROSS SOCAL.
&&
.AVIATION...
180515Z...MOSTLY LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 15Z-
19Z THU. OCCASIONAL CIGS WILL BE 1000-2500 FT MSL...WITH MOST CLOUDS
AT/ABOVE 5000 FT MSL WITH LAYERS TO 20000 FT MSL. LOCAL VIS WILL BE
3-5 MI IN RAIN THROUGH 17Z THU. SOME MOUNTAIN TERRAIN WILL BE
OBSCURED IN CLOUDS. AFTER 19Z THU...SCT-LOCAL BKN CONDITIONS WITH
CLOUD BASES MOSTLY ABOVE 3000 FT MSL WILL PREVAIL.
AREAS OF SOUTHWEST-WEST SFC WINDS 15-30 KT GUSTS 40-55 KT WILL OCCUR
IN THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERT SLOPES THROUGH 19Z THU...EXCEPT FOR
HIGHER GUSTS LOCALLY TO 70 KT ON THE NORTH/EAST SLOPES OF THE SAN
BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS...WITH PEAK WINDS 09Z-16Z. WINDS WILL DECREASE
WED AFTERNOON.
&&
.MARINE...
915 PM...OCCASIONAL RAIN WILL CONTINUE TONIGHT THROUGH MID-MORNING
THURSDAY...BUT WIND SPEEDS WILL REMAIN BELOW HAZARDOUS LEVELS. NO
HAZARDOUS MARINE WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH MONDAY.
&&
.SKYWARN...
SKYWARN ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED. HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE
ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS.
&&
.SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 1 PM PST THURSDAY FOR RIVERSIDE COUNTY
MOUNTAINS-SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-SAN GORGONIO PASS NEAR
BANNING.
HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 1 PM PST THURSDAY FOR APPLE AND LUCERNE
VALLEYS-SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 1 PM PST
THURSDAY FOR SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MOUNTAINS.
PZ...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC...JAD
AVIATION/MARINE...MAXWELLPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
1228 AM PST THU FEB 18 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1110 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 ENE GEORGE AFB 34.61N 117.29W
02/17/2016 M47 MPH SAN BERNARDINO CA MESONET
MESONET STATION VICTORVILLE (5 N) /GHG39/
&&
JMBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Burns Canyon mesonet station reported a wind gust of 75 mph, additional gusts in in excess of 60 mph occurred between 2351 and 0251 PST.
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, February 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: 618856.