Wildfire, Kern Cty Mtns
- When
- September 1, 12:00 AM PST to September 30, 7:00 AM PST
- Where
- Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
- Reported by
- Park/Forest Service
The Cedar fire began on 8/16/16 5 miles north of Alta Sierra in Kern County and spread northward into Tulare County. It was human caused.
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 HNX wrote it up.
The Cedar fire began on 8/16/16 5 miles north of Alta Sierra in Kern County and spread northward into Tulare County. It was human caused. The fire burned 29,322 acres mostly during August 2016, before being fully contained on 9/30/16. The fire forced evacuations for several communities in Kern and Tulare counties for more than two weeks and Highway 155 was closed for several days due to the fire. Six cabins in the Spear Creek Summer Homes tract in the community of Posey in Tulare County were destroyed. The cost of containment was $58.4 million.
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 Aug 31, 4:29 PM PST, 7 hours 31 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley - Hanford CA 529 PM PDT WED AUG 31 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Dry weather and a slight cool down over the central California interior for the next several days. && .DISCUSSION...Updated air quality section... && .PREV DISCUSSION...Issued at 1:17 PM PDT... DISCUSSION... Other than a few clouds over the Sierra Nevada due to the fetch of mid/upper-level moisture from this morning, skies remain clear across the region. Temperatures have trended down a little as the mid/upper-level trough of low pressure moves inland into California. The marine layer along the coast has also deepened once again, so some marine air is expected to filter through the passes along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley at times and allow for some reinforced cooling in the San Joaquin Valley. In other locales, the trough will provide some synoptic cooling, although expect breezy conditions at times, including during the afternoon and evening periods through Sunday. Locally gusty winds are possible each day in the mountain and desert areas, especially in Kern County, with a more noticeable uptick by Friday and into Labor Day weekend. However, wind gusts will likely remain below advisory criteria, except for a few locales near the passes and canyons. Model consistency provides good confidence in the continued development of the mid/upper level trough along the west coast through the end of the week. Expect temperatures to continue to run near to slightly below average for the next couple of days in a southwest to west flow on the front side of this developing trough. As the deepening trough moves inland by Friday, we will see a fairly decent cooling trend, with temperatures dropping to around 4-8 degrees below average during the Labor Day weekend. After the holiday period, models begin to diverge a bit in the details but generally weaken and lift out the trough through the middle of next week. This will bring an upward trend in temperatures, with more noticeable warming by Tuesday and next Wednesday, but without a significant building ridge of high pressure, highs are expected to only return to around average or slightly above. A dry weather pattern will continue, and precipitation is not expected throughout the period, as there is no associated moisture accompanying the passing troughs/impulses. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions will prevail over the central CA interior during the next 24 hours. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... On Thursday September 1 2016... Unhealthy for sensitive groups in 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. Certainty levels include low...medium...and high. Please visit www.weather.gov/hnx/certainty.php for additional information an/or to provide feedback. && .HNX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NONE. && avn/fw...BSO prev discussion...BSO synopsis...WP weather.gov/hanford
2 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, September 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: 656696, 656697.