What was behind Tuesday’s freak weather in Carmichael, wildfires in California?
Powerful straight-line winds that strafed Carmichael neighborhoods, toppling trees and sending roof shingles and patio furniture flying, blew in on the coattails of thunderstorms that struck the Sacramento area Tuesday.
The late-morning downdraft wind event about 10 a.m. Tuesday carried gusts of up to 70 mph at their peak, said Dakari Anderson, a forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Sacramento.
When downdrafts cause damage on the ground as in Carmichael on Tuesday, they are known as downbursts, say forecasters. Ones of short distances, less than 2.5 miles in diameter, are known as microbursts. The bursts packed a punch, uprooting even mature trees in the Carmichael area, and disrupting power to thousands of Sacramento Municipal Utility District customers.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials said residents reported downed power lines across the Carmichael area knocked to the ground by the strong winds, with most of the calls near Fair Oaks Boulevard, Hackberry Lane between Winding Way and Locust Avenue, and Garfield Avenue near Marmith Avenue.
The largest of a number of power outages across the area hit northeastern Sacramento County just before 10 a.m., knocking out power to roughly 13,500 customers in North Highlands, Citrus Heights and Carmichael, according to SMUD officials. Power was restored to most customers by 11 a.m., officials at the utility said.
A surge of monsoonal moisture from the Southwest, not uncommon during California summers, helped trigger the lightning and wind events. Thunderstorms of this type can also produce dust storms and intense downpours that lead to flash flooding, forecasters said.
Trace amounts of rain were reported around the capital region. Folsom recorded 0.02 inches of precipitation in the 36 hours ending at noon Wednesday, while Auburn saw 0.12 inches over the same span.
The early-morning thunderstorms that rumbled across the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys Tuesday also produced nearly 10,000 dry lightning strikes, sparking wildfires from the Mother Lode to the grasslands of eastern Sacramento County.
Firefighters continue to battle the most serious of the blazes in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. Sacramento forecaster Anderson said outflow winds could move over those fire areas over the next couple of days, bringing the threat of gusty winds.
But the exiting thunderstorms are also bringing some relief to fire crews. Higher humidity is expected in the Mother Lode, along with cooler temperatures gradually declining by 1 to 2 degrees daily, topping out in the mid-80s to near 90 degrees by the weekend.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.
This story was originally published September 3, 2025 at 1:09 PM.
.JPG)