Offshore wind brought higher temperatures and gusty winds to Southern California. Peak wind occurred on March 15th, with gusts to 60 mph reported in the San Bernardino Mountains and gusts to 75 mph reported in the San Diego County Mountains (Sill Hill).
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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.
Offshore wind brought higher temperatures and gusty winds to Southern California. Peak wind occurred on March 15th, with gusts to 60 mph reported in the San Bernardino Mountains and gusts to 75 mph reported in the San Diego County Mountains (Sill Hill). Temperatures rose to the 70s on the coast and 80s to low 90s in the valleys.
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 Mar 15, 8:09 AM PST, 51 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Diego CA
909 AM PDT Fri Mar 15 2019
.SYNOPSIS...
Warm and dry weather with weak to locally moderate strength
offshore flow will prevail into Sunday, resulting in periods of
gusty northeast to east winds along and near the coastal slopes of
the mountains, and below passes and canyons. Weak onshore flow
will develop near the coast early next week. The warming trend
will continue through Sunday, with lower temperatures beginning to
spread inland on Monday. A chance for precipitation will return
around the middle of next week.
&&
.DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE...
SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTIES...
Offshore flow continues this morning, with sfc pressure gradients
of -8.9 mb SAN-TPH and -1.8 mb SAN-TRM. This is producing gusty
northeast to east winds, mainly in the Inland Empire below the
Cajon and Banning Passes, near the coastal slopes of the Santa Ana
Mountains, and in San Diego County from the mountain ridge tops
into the inland valleys. Currently, the strongest winds reported
are 75 mph at Sill Hill in the San Diego County mountains and 50
mph at Alpine in the San Diego County mtns. Sfc high pressure in
the Great Basin will continue to produce offshore flow through
Sunday, with periods of gusty northeast to east winds in the same
locations as this morning. The winds will follow a diurnal pattern
of strengthening each morning and weakening each
afternoon/evening. The offshore winds will get progressively
weaker each day through Sunday. A weak upper-level disturbance
moving eastward across the region will continue to bring variable
mid and high clouds through this afternoon as it evolves into a
closed upper low over western Arizona. Otherwise, the upper low
will have little effect on conditions at the sfc. The closed upper
low will likely remain nearly stationary over Arizona until late
Sunday.
The warming trend will continue through the weekend, with daytime
high temps reaching the lower 80s in portions of the inland
valleys and inland Orange County on Sunday.
On Monday, the closed upper low becomes an open wave as it begins
to move east as a dynamic ridge moves in from the west ahead of an
approaching system. Temperatures near the coast begin to lower and
humidities increase as weak onshore flow brings a return of
marine air. Farther inland, it will remain dry with temperatures
close to Sunday.
A low pressure system moving in from the west will bring a cooling
trend through the middle of next week, with a chance for rain and
mountain snow for Wednesday and Thursday, possibly lingering into
early Friday. The medium-range deterministic models have not yet
converged on a clear solution. The most recent runs of the GFS
show a significant departure from previous solutions, now
indicating the closed upper low farther north with less
precipitation and stronger westerly flow aloft on Thursday. By
contrast, the ECMWF shows the closed upper low farther south, with
more precip for SoCal and weaker westerly winds. The forecast
continues to reflect an ensemble approach, using a blend of these
model solutions.
&&
.AVIATION...
150915Z...FEW-SCT clouds AOA 20000 ft MSL and unrestricted vis
through Saturday morning. Areas of NE surface winds 15-25 knots with
gusts 30-40 knots will continue this morning on the coastal mountain
slopes and through/below passes/canyons, including VCNTY KONT. Winds
will weaken after 20Z, then strengthen again after after 16/06Z.
Pockets of LLWS will continue over and SW/W of the mountains through
Saturday morning.
&&
.MARINE...
No hazardous marine weather is expected through Tuesday.
&&
.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 PDT Saturday for Orange County Inland
Areas-Riverside County Mountains-San Bernardino County
Mountains-San Bernardino and Riverside County Valleys-The
Inland Empire-San Diego County Mountains-San Diego County
Valleys-San Gorgonio Pass Near Banning-Santa Ana Mountains
and Foothills.
PZ...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC...PG
AVIATION/MARINE...ConnollyThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Sill Hill mesonet recorded a peak wind gust of 75 mph on March 15th. Other locales in the San Diego County mountains recorded peak wind gusts of 50-60 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 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: 814910.