Name: Wildfire in California, July 13 to 31, 2021
Start: 2021-07-13T17:15
End: 2021-07-31T23:59
Location: California

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 3
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 STO wrote it up.

The Dixie Fire started under drought conditions with hot weather, strong winds, and exceptionally dry vegetation in the area.

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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 13, 12:12 PM PST, 5 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 12:12 PM PST, 5 hours 3 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Sacramento CA
112 PM PDT Tue Jul 13 2021

.SYNOPSIS...
Hot and dry conditions gradually give way to moderating
temperatures by mid-week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
High pressure remains over California today, though it will begin
to break down slightly and move east due to an upper trough
forming in the Eastern Pacific. Temperatures are slightly cooler
today than yesterday across the area, with the Delta Breeze
keeping the southern Sacramento Valley and northern San Joaquin
Valley near daily normal. Temperatures for more inland areas,
including the mountains and northern Sacramento Valley, although
cooler than yesterday, are still pretty hot at 5 to 15 degrees
above normal.

As weak troughing continues to form over northern California
tomorrow, temperatures will continue to moderate, falling to near
normal across the entire forecast forecast area. The pattern
remains relatively unchanged for the rest of the work week with
temperatures remaining in the mid 80s to 90s across the Valley
and foothills and 70s to 80s for the mountains. Even the far
northern Sacramento Valley is expected to fall below the century
mark by Thursday, potentially ending Redding's streak of
consecutive days of high temperatures above 100+ degrees. Onshore
flow will continue as well, creating locally breezy afternoon and
evening winds with gusts up to 15 to 20 mph, though locally up to
25 to 40 mph through the Delta region. -HEC

&&

.EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Saturday THROUGH Tuesday)...
Cluster analysis indicates high pressure over interior Mountain
West building into Northern California by this weekend.
Temperatures will likely trend warmer as a result. Current
forecast indicates near to slightly above normal temperatures for
the weekend and into next week. The foothills and mountains will
continue to see warm overnight lows. However, the Delta breeze
will likely continue to bring overnight cooling to portions of the
Valley. The afternoon and evenings could see a nice breeze
develop with gusts expected to be less than 15 to 20 mph. Models
are also starting to indicate possible monsoonal showers over the
Sierra early next week as the ridge edges westward. Next week
moderate heat risk may return to much of the region as high
pressure continues to build into Northern California.

&&

.AVIATION...

VFR conditions the next 24 hours. Surface gusts 15 - 20 kts.
Carquinez Strait and Delta gusts up to 40 knots possible.

&&

.STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
None.

&&

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Mt Shasta/Western Plumas County

When: July 13, 5:15 PM PST to July 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Mt Shasta/Western Plumas County forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

The Dixie Fire began in Butte County in the Feather River Canyon, CA the evening of July 14, 2021 and quickly spread into Plumas County, CA. The first few days the fire saw significant growth. The fire grew from nearly 19,000 acres the evening of July 18th to 30,000 acres by the early morning of July 19th. The fire eventually burned in five counties: Butte, Lassen, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama. This includes the Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Lassen Volcanic National Park. The fire has burned 963,309 acres and caused evacuations and road closures through the area. 1,329 structures were destroyed and damaged 95 additional buildings as of 9,30,2021. 1 fatality was reported. The fire was not fully contained in the month of July.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Wildfire, Mt Shasta/Western Plumas County	2021-09-04		Female	Unknown	Direct

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

More

Every storm in California in 2021 Every state in 2021 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 2021

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: 977355.