California, 2025

High Wind in California, January 12 to 13, 2025

January 12 to 13, 2025 · NWS SGX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

There were back to back Santa Ana wind events in mid January 2025. A strong area of high pressure over the Great Basin, coupled with an upper level low positioned to the south, allowed for very strong Santa Ana winds across the region.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

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 SGX wrote it up.

There were back to back Santa Ana wind events in mid January 2025. A strong area of high pressure over the Great Basin, coupled with an upper level low positioned to the south, allowed for very strong Santa Ana winds across the region.

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 11, 9:06 PM PST, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 11, 9:06 PM PST, 4 hours 54 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills

When
January 12, 2:00 AM PST to January 13, 1:00 PM PST
Where
Santa Ana Mountains and Foothills forecast zone
Measured
56 kt (64 mph) measured gust
Reported by
Park/Forest Service
Coordinates
33.483, -116.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Fremont Canyon, a wind prone area, had strong Santa Ana winds.

What these are

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.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2025

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1232572.