California, 2018High Wind in California, January 27 to 29, 2018
January 27 to 29, 2018 · NWS SGX · 6 events in 4 counties and zones
A surface high built over the Great Basin, resulting in offshore pressure gradients and Santa Ana Winds in SoCal on the 27th, 28th and 29th of January. The east/west nature of the gradients favored San Diego County for the strongest winds.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 6
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.
A surface high built over the Great Basin, resulting in offshore pressure gradients and Santa Ana Winds in SoCal on the 27th, 28th and 29th of January. The east/west nature of the gradients favored San Diego County for the strongest winds. A peak wind gust of 89 mph was reported at Sill Hill.
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 San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 27, 2:45 PM PST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 2:45 PM PST, 4 hours 55 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Diego CA
245 PM PST Sat Jan 27 2018
.SYNOPSIS...
Strong surface high pressure building into the Great Basin will
bring strengthening Santa Ana winds tonight which will continue
through Monday. Temperatures will soar and relative humidities
will plummet, especially west of the mountains. Weak onshore flow
will return Tuesday and Wednesday, lowering temperatures a bit.
Another weaker surface high will build into the Great Basin late
next week, with a return to Santa Ana wind conditions, though
weaker.
&&
.DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE...
SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTIES...
Expansive surface high pressure across northern California and
extending into the Great Basin will be the dominant weather
feature through the weekend, leading to strengthening Santa Ana
winds. Aloft, a ridge stretches over Southern California from the
southwest. The result of the ridge aloft, along with compressional
warming from downsloping northeasterly winds, will be very warm
temperatures with peak heat occurring Sunday and Monday
afternoon's with widespread 80s west of the mountains and lower
deserts...even a few lower 90s possible over the inland
valleys/inland OC! Some record highs are in jeopardy, such as at
San Diego where the record highs for Sunday and Monday are 83 (in
1962) and 81 (in 1984), respectively.
The offshore surface pressure gradient has been increasing and
will continue to do so. The San Diego to Tonopah, NV sfc
p-gradient currently is near 8 mb, but GFS shows it to increase to
13 mb Sunday night. This increasing pressure gradient will
lead to strengthening Santa Ana winds tonight and lasting through
Monday with windiest locales (through and below passes and
canyons, coastal mountain slopes) having northeast winds of 20-30
mph with max gusts 55-65 mph. This event is mainly driven by the
surface pressure differences with weak upper level support. H85
winds off GFS are at about 25 KT on average.
The strong winds and low relative humidity creates fire weather
concerns. See Fire Weather discussion below for more details.
The surface high will weekend Tue-Wed. In fact, weak onshore wind
flow is expected to return then before another surface high builds
into the Great Basin Thu-Fri. This will bring a return to offshore
winds, though weaker than the current Santa Ana developing.
The storm track will remain well off to the north through next
week with no rain in sight. Temps will remain above average
throughout the period.
&&
.AVIATION...
271700Z...Coast/Valleys...FEW-SCT clouds AOA 20000 ft MSL and
unrestricted vis through Sunday morning. Moderate UDDFS and LLWS
likely over and west of the mtns including vcnty KONT and KSBD
late tonight into Sunday morning due to gusty northeast to east
winds. Smaller risk at KSAN.
Mountains/Deserts...FEW-SCT clouds AOA 20000 ft MSL and unrestricted
vis through Sunday morning.
&&
.MARINE...
Localized wind gusts to around 20 kt are forecast, particularly
near San Clemente Island as the stronger offshore winds could
reach out into the waters off the Orange County coast extending
towards San Clemente Island. Otherwise, no hazardous marine
conditions is expected as swell remains low.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
High pressure aloft will strengthen near the West Coast this
weekend...then begin to move inland on Monday. Surface high
pressure over the Great Basin will strengthen through
Sunday, then begin to weaken for Sunday night and Monday.
This will bring periods of Santa Ana winds and lower inland
humidities through Monday. Northeast winds will prevail at 20-30
mph with gusts to 55-65 mph in the Santa Ana wind prone areas
(below passes/along lower coastal mountain slopes) with poor
overnight recovery. While not a significant difference, max winds
likely will occur Sunday morning for San Bernardino, Riverside,
and Inland Orange Counties and Monday morning for inland San Diego
County as the pressure gradient becomes more easterly.
A Red Flag Warning continues tonight-Monday afternoon for the
valleys and mountains of San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego
and for inland Orange County. We did have one Pacific storm that
brought appreciable rainfall to the area, but fire officials state
that dry fuels are reaching critical levels and conditions are set
for rapid fire growth should a fire start.
&&
.SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...Red Flag Warning from 7 PM this evening to 4 PM PST Monday for
Orange County Inland Areas-Riverside County Mountains-
Including The San Jacinto Ranger District Of The San
Bernardino National Forest-San Bernardino County Mountains-
Including The Mountain Top And Front Country Ranger
Districts Of The San Bernardino National Forest-San
Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys -The Inland Empire-
San Diego County Inland Valleys-San Diego County Mountains-
Including The Palomar And Descanso Ranger Districts of the
Cleveland National Forest-San Gorgonio Pass Near Banning-
Santa Ana Mountains-Including The Trabuco Ranger District
of the Cleveland National Forest.
PZ...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC...Gregoria
AVIATION/MARINE...GregoriaHigh Wind, San Bernardino County Mountains
- When
- January 27, 7:40 PM PST to January 29, 6:00 AM PST
- Where
- San Bernardino County Mountains forecast zone
- Measured
- 77 kt (89 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 34.841, -116.178 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The mesonet station at Sill Hill reported periodic gusts in the 60-80 mph range over a period of roughly 30 hours. A max gust of 89 mph was recorded. Winds were not as pronounced at other mountain mesonet stations with peak gust mostly in the 35-65 mph range. No major damage reported.
High Wind, Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills
- When
- January 28, 2:00 AM PST to 10:00 AM PST
- Where
- Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills forecast zone
- Measured
- 64 kt (74 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 33.483, -116.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winds gusted in the 60-74 mph range at Fremont Canyon. Other stations in the Santa Ana Mountains saw lighter winds, though Pleasants peak did have a peak gust of 65 mph.
High Wind, San Diego County Valleys
- When
- January 28, 4:00 AM PST to 12:00 PM PST
- Where
- San Diego County Valleys forecast zone
- Measured
- 55 kt (63 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Multiple mesonet stations reported peak wind gusts in the 58-63 mph range. Winds were focused toward the eastern portion of the valleys. No major damage reported.
High Wind, San Diego County Valleys
- When
- January 29, 1:00 AM PST to 11:00 AM PST
- Where
- San Diego County Valleys forecast zone
- Measured
- 59 kt (68 mph) estimated gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 33.028, -116.770 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Multiple mesonet stations reported winds in the 50-65 mph range over the eastern valleys. A peak of 68 mph occurred at Alpine Raws between 0652 and 0752 PST. No significant impacts reported.
High Wind, Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills
- When
- January 29, 8:00 AM PST to 10:00 AM PST
- Where
- Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills forecast zone
- Measured
- 66 kt (76 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 33.483, -116.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The mesonet station in Fremont Canyon reported a brief period with wind gusts in excess of 70 mph. Pleasants Peak also gusted to 66 mph.
High Wind, San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys - the Inland Empire
- When
- January 29, 8:00 AM PST to 11:00 AM PST
- Where
- San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys - the Inland Empire forecast zone
- Measured
- 58 kt (67 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
- Coordinates
- 34.293, -116.086 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
The Highland Springs mesonet reported gusts in excess of 58 mph for 3 hours. Winds were significantly lower across the rest of the Inland Empire.
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
- Flash Flood and Heavy Rain in Texas, January 27 to 30, 2018$1.0 million · 3 events
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in Washington, January 27, 2018$600,000 · 70 kt wind · 9 events
- Flash Flooding and Astronomical Low Tide in Louisiana, January 27 to 30, 2018$25,000 · 6 events
- Dense Fog in Missouri, January 27 to 28, 201810 events
- Winter Weather in New York, January 27 to 28, 20188 events
- Dense Fog in Kentucky, January 27 to 28, 20186 events
- Flash Flooding in Louisiana, January 27, 20183 events
- Dense Fog in Illinois, January 27, 20183 events
- Freezing Fog and Dense Fog in California, January 27, 20182 events
- High Wind in Washington, January 27, 201858 kt wind · 2 events
- Winter Weather in New York, January 27, 20182 events
- Wildfire in Georgia, January 27, 20181 event
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: 737488, 737551, 737495, 737544, 737553, 737555.