Wildfire in California, November 1 to 30, 2020

Name: Wildfire in California, November 1 to 30, 2020
Start: 2020-11-01T00:00
End: 2020-11-30T23:59
Location: California

November 1 to 30, 2020 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS HNX wrote it up.

The lightning caused Castle fire was discovered on the morning of August 19, 2020. It was located 25 miles north of Kernville on the Sequoia National Forest and just a few miles east of the Giant Sequoia National Monument. It grew slowly at first, reaching 2000 acres on August 23rd. It grew rapidly to 15,000 acres by August 25th and to 35,674 acres by August 31st. The rapid growth resulted in evacuations of several small mountain communities and the closure of Highway 190 and several other mountain roads. On August 29, the Castle fire was combined with the smaller Shot Gun fire to become the SQF Complex. The fire grew to 151,436 acres by the end of September and to 170,165 acres by the end of October. The fire continued a slow growth in November and ended the month at 174,178 acres and 90 percent contained.

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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 31, 2:49 PM PST, 9 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 31, 2:49 PM PST, 9 hours 11 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Hanford CA
349 PM PDT Sat Oct 31 2020

Updated Air Quality Issues section

.SYNOPSIS...
Temperatures will continue to remain above average through Thursday.
A pattern change by the end of next week will bring much cooler
temperatures to the region, but uncertainty still remains for the
chance of precipitation.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
A Rex Blocking pattern will remain in control across the region
into Monday. This will keep our area under a dry, warm offshore
flow. An upper level low (southern half of this blocking pattern)
will bring an increase in mid to upper level cloud cover to the
region on Sunday and early Monday. However, under this warm
airmass temperatures will still remain up to 10 degrees above
average for early November.

The upper level ridge shifts east on Tuesday, with a slightly
cooler, weak zonal flow. High pressure then builds back into the
region late Tuesday through Thursday. Temperatures will still remain
well above average during this period, with dry conditions
prevailing across the region.

A pattern change is in store by next Friday and Saturday. There
is still has a fair amount of uncertainty in the exact strength
and timing of the upper level trough and between the EURO and GFS.
The morning run of the GFS has started to try and dig the upper
level trough much deeper and further to the west, trending toward
the EURO solution. Despite this trend in the GFS (and only one
model run) there is still a fair amount of uncertainty into the
chances of precipitation. What is more certain is that
temperatures will significantly decrease by the end of next week
as ensembles have a deep trough across the Western U.S.

&&

.AVIATION...
Areas of MVFR visibilities due to smoke and haze will occur in the
San Joaquin Valley and Sierra foothills for at least the next 24
hours. Areas of IFR visibilities due to smoke and haze will continue
in the Sierra Nevada. Elsewhere, VFR conditions will prevail across
the central CA interior for the next 24 hours.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
Please see SFOAQAHNX for an Air Quality Alert.

On Sunday, November 1st, 2020, unhealthy for sensitive groups in
Fresno, Kings, and Madera Counties. Fireplace/wood stove burning
status is: no burning unless registered in Kern, Merced, and Tulare
Counties. No burning for all in Fresno, Kings, and Madera Counties.
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.html for additional information and/or
to provide feedback.

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

public...CMC
aviation....CMC

weather.gov/hanford

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Sequoia Kings

When: November 1, 12:00 AM PST to November 30, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Sequoia Kings forecast zone
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

The SQF complex saw only small growth in November as up to a foot of snow fell on the higher elevations of the fire. That was the only precipitation for the month. The final size was 174,178 acres by the end of November with no additional growth expected. The Castle Fire burned on portions of the Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument (129,975 acres), Inyo National Forest (12,283 acres), Sequoia National Park (18,292 acres), lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (728 acres), State (4,036 acres), County, and private lands (4,726 acres) and threatened the Tule River Indian Reservation.

Containment of the SQF Complex was 90% for the portion of the fire managed by the Sequoia National Forest. Due to limited access to the fires edge in remote locations, full containment is not expected until it can be assessed on the ground. Most uncontained lines are at higher elevations where natural barriers have stopped the spread, and winter conditions will likely extinguish any remaining hot spots. The cost of containment was $120 Million.

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2020 Every state in 2020 This day in weather history Warnings in California, November 2020

Sources

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: 923445.