Name: Wildfire in California, May 22, 2025
Start: 2025-05-22T13:51
End: 2025-05-22T19:40
Location: California

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.

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Wind
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Winter weather
Heat and drought
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Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10
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 MTR wrote it up.

The Midway Fire was first noted at 2:51 PM in eastern Alameda County, at Midway Road and Patterson Pass Road near the city of Tracy. The fire caused a closure of Interstate 580, a key highway connecting the Bay Area to the Central Valley, for approximately 2 and a half hours from around 3:45 PM to around 6:25 PM, with lanes remaining closed through around 8:40 PM. At time of incident, a CALTRANS station at the Interstate 580 and Interstate 205 interchange reported a relative humidity of 27% and wind gusts from the west-southwest at 28 mph. At 3:12 PM, the Altamont RAWS reported a relative humidity of 33% and wind gusts from the west-southwest of 33 mph. As of 5:03 PM, CalFire had reported that the fire was 50% contained and that forward progress had been stopped. The fire was mapped at 262 acres, and had burned past Interstate 580 and the Alameda-San Joaquin county line up to the California Aqueduct near Tracy.

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 Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 22, 10:25 AM PST, 3 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 10:25 AM PST, 3 hours 26 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Francisco CA
1125 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

...New AVIATION...

.SYNOPSIS...
Issued at 238 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

Elevated fire weather conditions remain the primary concern today as
warm, dry, and windy conditions continue.

&&

.UPDATE...
Issued at 926 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

Fairly clear skies across the region this morning with only a few
patchy areas of stratus along the coastline. The Fort Ord Profiler
shows the marine layer is around 1,000 ft and is expected to deepen
to around 1500 ft tonight. Elevated fire weather concerns continue
in areas where grasses are cured due to dry daytime conditions and
gusty winds between 25-35 mph. Otherwise, no updates needed.

&&

.SHORT TERM...
(Today and tonight)
Issued at 238 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

The marine layer is being observed at 800 feet by the Fort Ord
profiler with satellite just starting to show some stratus forming
over Tomales Bay and along the San Francisco Peninsula Coast.
Despite this, the 00Z KOAK sounding revealed a LowRH (surface-850
mb) value of 25%, a MidRH (850mb-650mb) value of 9%, and a
precipitable water value of 0.45 inches which is slightly above the
10th percentile of 0.42 inches for 00Z May 22nd. An upper-level
shortwave trough will skirt the region today, bringing temperatures
back down to seasonal normals. Of more impact will be the strong
onshore winds that it brings with gusts of 25-35 mph expected over
the waters, along the immediate coastline, through
northwest/southeast oriented valleys, and in the higher terrain.
These winds in conjunction with poor relative humidity (both
overnight recovery and daytime minimum) will continue to support
elevated fire weather conditions.

&&

.LONG TERM...
(Friday through Wednesday)
Issued at 238 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

An approaching second, deeper upper-level shortwave trough will
deepen the marine layer and finally ease fire weather concerns for
the time being as excellent relative humidity recovery (70%+)
returns to all but the highest terrain of the Central Coast.
Sensibly, temperatures will drop to 5 degrees below normal, dubbing
tomorrow the coolest day of the week. Heights will begin to build
and temperatures rebound to seasonal normals Saturday as a
positively tilted upper-level longwave ridge builds into the West.
Due to the orientation of the upper-level pattern, the warmest day
for the Bay Area will be Saturday with the Central Coast having to
wait until Sunday to achieve that feat. The unofficial start of
Summer (Memorial Day) will feel anything but with below normal
temperatures brought to you by a dry cold front. The previously
mentioned upper-level longwave ridge will build and broaden across
the Western two-thirds of CONUS with an upper-level shortwave trough
likely to undercut it, resulting in split flow and unimpactful
weather for our region Tuesday and Wednesday.

&&

.AVIATION...
(18Z TAFS)
Issued at 1125 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

Primarily VFR through the TAF period with patchy periods of MVFR-IFR
stratus in the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay region. Winds
strengthen during the day with gusts between 20 to 32 knots across
portions of the Bay Area and Central Coast. Winds ease overnight
before locally breezy conditions develop during the day again
tomorrow. Confidence is low that fog will develop across the North
Bay Valleys tonight with conditions looking to be too dry for fog
development.

Vicinity of SFO...VFR becoming IFR overnight. Patchy IFR stratus
will develop overnight around 10Z before dissipating by mid Friday
morning. Strong winds gusting up to 32 knots are expected this
afternoon before easing overnight to around 12 knots. Gusty winds up
to 27 knots will return during the day on Friday.

SFO Bridge Approach...Similar to SFO.

Monterey Bay Terminals...VFR becoming MVFR overnight. MVFR CIGs look
to return tomorrow morning around 13Z and persist through late
tomorrow morning. CIGs are borderline MVFR/IFR with some potential
for IFR CIGs to develop overnight. Breezy onshore winds continue
through the TAF period with lighter, more variable winds expected
overnight.

&&

.MARINE...
(Today through Tuesday)
Issued at 926 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

Widespread hazardous marine conditions continue today as strong
northwesterly breezes with near gale to gale force gusts and rough
seas persist. Fresh to strong northwesterly breezes and moderate
to  rough seas will prevail Friday through Monday.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 238 AM PDT Thu May 22 2025

The combination of poor daytime relative humidity of 15-25% and
onshore winds with gusts of 25-35 mph along the immediate coastline,
in northwest/southeast oriented valleys, and in the higher terrain
will continue to support elevated fire weather conditions today. The
greatest period of concern is today in cured grass areas. Remain
fire wise and do not be the reason for fire starts.

Sarment

&&

.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...None.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory until 3 AM PDT Friday for SF Bay N of Bay
     Bridge.

     Small Craft Advisory from 3 PM to 9 PM PDT Friday for SF Bay N
     of Bay Bridge.

     Gale Warning until 9 PM PDT this evening for Mry Bay.

     Small Craft Advisory until 9 AM PDT Friday for Pt Arena to Pt
     Reyes 0-10 nm-Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 10-60 NM.

     Gale Warning from 9 AM Friday to 3 AM PDT Saturday for Pt Arena
     to Pt Reyes 0-10 nm-Pt Arena to Pt Reyes 10-60 NM.

     Small Craft Advisory until 3 PM PDT Friday for Pt Reyes to
     Pigeon Pt 0-10 nm.

     Gale Warning from 3 PM Friday to 3 AM PDT Saturday for Pt Reyes
     to Pigeon Pt 0-10 nm.

     Gale Warning until 3 AM PDT Friday for Pigeon Pt to Pt Pinos 0-
     10 nm.

     Gale Warning until 9 PM PDT Friday for Pt Pinos to Pt Piedras
     Blancas 0-10 nm.

     Small Craft Advisory until 3 AM PDT Saturday for Pigeon Pt to Pt
     Pinos 10-60 NM.

&&

SHORT TERM...Sarment
LONG TERM....Sarment
AVIATION...Murdock
MARINE...Murdock

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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 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, East Bay Hills

When: May 22, 1:51 PM PST to 7:40 PM PST
Where: East Bay Hills forecast zone
Property damage: $10
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 37.787, -121.934 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Midway Fire was first noted at 2:51 PM in eastern Alameda County, at Midway Road and Patterson Pass Road near the city of Tracy. The fire caused a closure of Interstate 580, a key highway connecting the Bay Area to the Central Valley, for approximately 2 and a half hours from around 3:45 PM to around 6:25 PM, with lanes remaining closed through around 8:40 PM. The fire was mapped at 262 acres, and had burned past Interstate 580 and the Alameda-San Joaquin county line up to the California Aqueduct near Tracy.

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 2025 Every state in 2025 This day in weather history Warnings in California, May 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1258127.