An inside slider upper low brought moisture and instability to SoCal on April 22nd. Thunderstorms developed over the mountains and deserts.
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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.
An inside slider upper low brought moisture and instability to SoCal on April 22nd. Thunderstorms developed over the mountains and deserts. Heavy rain, thunder and lightning occurred in these storms. A waterspout was observed in Morena Lake and a webcam captured a possible funnel cloud over Mount Laguna.
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 Apr 22, 12:00 PM PST, 1 hour earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service San Diego CA 100 PM PDT Mon Apr 22 2019 .SYNOPSIS... Low pressure will drop south over Southern California tonight, bringing partly cloudy skies, along with a chance of showers and even an isolated thunderstorm or two, mainly over the mountains this afternoon and evening. Some weak offshore breezes will develop through and below passes and canyons as flow turns offshore on Tuesday, bringing drying and warming inland. High pressure aloft will continue the warming inland this week, but a shallow marine layer will keep the Coast cooler, along with some low clouds at times. Cooling will spread inland next weekend, along with more clouds, and even a chance of showers early next week. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES... At Noon PDT...Satellite imagery showed mostly clear skies across SoCal except over the mountains and high deserts where cumulus clouds were building. There were a few spots near the mts reporting wind gusts from the North at 25-35 MPH, otherwise most areas were light. Low pressure is still on track to dig south over SoCal this evening, pulling a disturbance with it along and west of the mountains. There appears to be enough moisture and sufficient instability for at least a chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms, mainly along the mountains, but some points west could get some light precip as well. Any shower development will be moving from north to south. By Tue morning, the low center should be over far NW Mexico, setting up northern portions of the CWA for some offshore winds. These are not expected to be strong, but will cause further drying and warming inland where daytime temperatures will be much warmer this week. Along the coast, onshore flow is expected to hold a shallow marine layer, keeping the days much cooler, with some patchy marine clouds at times. A broad ridge aloft will dominate the weather through the midweek period, with fair skies most areas away from the immediate coast. Temperatures will be some 5-10F above average most areas, although not nearly as much along the coastal strip due to the marine layer and afternoon sea breezes. Looking ahead to the weekend...The 12Z ECMWF/GFS operational runs continue to show a closed low moving across SoCal Sun/Mon. It looks strong enough to generate widespread showers at this point, and low POPS are in the forecast for now, but likely to go higher if the models stay on track. Increasing onshore flow over the weekend will bring cooler weather and a deeper marine layer as well. && .AVIATION... 221945Z...Coast/Valleys...FEW-SCT cigs 2000-3000 ft MSL through the afternoon. ISO -SHRA possible in parts of the valleys and Inland Empire through early evening. BKN cigs filling in around 2000 ft MSL redeveloping after 08Z for the coastal TAF sites, pushing approx 15- 20 miles inland. Scatter out expected by 18Z Tuesday. Mountains...Northwest winds 20-25 kt gusting to 40 kt over the mountains continue through this afternoon with MOD UDDFS along the desert facing mountain slopes and into the deserts. Winds diminishing after 02Z Tuesday, then picking back up after 17Z. Cigs 2000-3000 ft MSL continuing to develop this afternoon. Possible - SHRA and isolated -TSRA after 21Z lasting into early evening. Deserts...Mostly clear with VFR conditions through Tuesday. Gusty northwest winds continue through the afternoon with MOD UDDFS possible. Brief period of calmer winds after 03Z Tuesday, before gusting to 25 kts after 17Z Tuesday. && .MARINE... No hazardous marine weather is expected through this weekend. .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...10 AVIATION/MARINE...APR
The San Diego radar (KNKX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:00 UTC.
1 lightning, 1 funnel cloud, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning with these storms first reported over Julian in San Diego County a little after 2 PM PST.
SDG&E webcam captured a funnel cloud over Mount Laguna.
KUSI TV shared several photos of a waterspout over Lake Morena. Early a report and photo of a funnel cloud was capture on SDGE webcamera near Mt Laguna. No damage reported but water spray evident over the lake. Thunderstorms and cumulus clouds were in the vicinity.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 2019Warnings in California, April 2019
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: 819468, 819464, 821391.