Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 2023

Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Hanford, CA

March 10, 2023Fresno County, Madera County, California

NWS Hanford, CA issued this flash flood warning at Mar 10, 2023, 7:59 AM PST for Fresno County, Madera County, California. It was in force for 6 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 10, 2023, 7:59 AM PST (15:59 UTC)
Expired: Mar 10, 2023, 2:00 PM PST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Hanford, CA
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

Counties Fresno County, CA, Madera County, CA

The radar

The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:00 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Vandenberg AFB, CA (KVBG), launched 12:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 261 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 758 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 491 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 469 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, 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 this flash flood warning went out at Mar 10, 1:58 AM PST, 6 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 10, 1:58 AM PST, 6 hours 1 minute before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Hanford CA
158 AM PST Fri Mar 10 2023

.SYNOPSIS...
The atmospheric river event started this afternoon for our CWA and
will continue through Sunday, with the heaviest rainfall this
morning and afternoon. Most of the rainfall will occur in the
Sierra Nevada below 8000ft and the foothills, with lighter
rainfall in the eastern valley, and the lightest rainfall in the
western valley. This rain may cause flooding in the foothills and
Sierra Nevada as the established snow melts. Another system may
come in after this one, begining on Monday and dissipating by
Thursday.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
An upper level trough off the northwest coast of the U.S. has
continued to pull warm and moist air from the subtropics and push
it into the California coast. This atmospheric river has already
started to impact our CWA, with rainfall from the valley to the
mountains below 8000ft. Snow will also impact the mountains above
7000ft. Most of the precipitation will fall this morning and
afternoon, and will taper off by Sunday night.

Here's the lastest 4.1 NBM probabilites for 4" of rain or more at
some of our mountain and foothills locations from 10 PM on
Thursday to 10 PM on Friday:

Shaver Lake: 76%
Wawona: 71%
Yosemite Valley: 56%
North Fork: 46%
El Portal: 41%
Mariposa: 31%
Oakhurst: 31%

This will greatly impact these areas as the recent snowfall will
be rained on and rapidly melt, leading to flooding for the local
rivers and streams. Flooding is also possible on roads, use
caution and do not drive over flooded roads, as your vehicle may
be washed away. High winds are also likely in the lower Mojave
desert and the Central San Joaquin Valley north of Kings County
until this afternoon and into tonight.

Another system will likely come in on Monday morning and
continue until Wednesday night. This may bring rain and high
elevation snow. Snow levels may begin around 7000ft and rise to
around 8000ft for this event. Guidence is begining to show some
calmer weather by next Friday, confidence will increase as more
data is gathered.

&&

.AVIATION...
The San Joaquin Valley can see areas of MVFR conditions in
showers and IFR conditions are possible in mountains due to
precipitation. This will continue as te system passes through this
morning through to tonight.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
None.

&&

.CERTAINTY...

The level of certainty for days 1 and 2 is medium.
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...
Wind Advisory from 6 AM this morning to 10 PM PST this evening
for CAZ337-339.

Flood Watch through Sunday morning for CAZ300>336.

Wind Advisory until 4 PM PST this afternoon for CAZ300>306-317-
318.

Winter Storm Warning until 10 AM PDT Sunday for CAZ323-326>331.

&&

public...EW
aviation....EW

weather.gov/hanford

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 10, 7:41 AM PST, 18 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 10, 7:43 AM PST, 16 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 10, 7:47 AM PST, 12 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 10, 7:51 AM PST, 8 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 10, 7:52 AM PST, 7 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 10, 7:59 AM PST, 0 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Hanford, CA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 9, 4:32 PM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Madera, Tulare	6 hr
Mar 9, 9:22 PM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Tulare, Tuolumne	17 hr
Mar 10, 1:51 AM PST	High Wind Warning	HNX	Fresno, Kern, Kings, Merced	14 hr
Mar 10, 2:06 AM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Kings, Madera, Tulare	3 hr
Mar 10, 2:59 AM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Kern, Kings, Tulare	3 hr
Mar 10, 6:31 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	HNX	Tulare	10 hr
Mar 10, 6:32 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning EmergencyConsiderable damage threat	HNX	Tulare	25 hr
Mar 10, 6:38 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	HNX	Fresno	6 hr
Mar 10, 6:44 AM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Kern, Tulare	8 hr
Mar 10, 6:58 AM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Tulare	8 hr
Mar 10, 7:17 AM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno	12 min
Mar 10, 7:29 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	HNX	Fresno	4 hr
Mar 10, 7:29 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	HNX	Tulare	7 hr
Mar 10, 7:46 AM PST	Areal Flood Warning	HNX	Fresno, Kings, Tulare	10 hr
Mar 10, 8:21 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning Considerable damage threat	HNX	Kings, Tulare	4 hr
Mar 10, 9:17 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning	HNX	Fresno, Madera	3 hr
Mar 10, 9:20 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning	HNX	Mariposa, Tuolumne	115 min
Mar 10, 10:44 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning EmergencyCatastrophic damage threat	HNX	Kern, Tulare	7 hr
Mar 10, 11:06 AM PST	Flash Flood Warning	HNX	Fresno	5 hr
Mar 10, 12:03 PM PST	Areal Flood Warning	HNX	Kings, Tulare	20 hr
Mar 10, 12:15 PM PST	Areal Flood Warning	HNX	Fresno, Madera	12 hr
Mar 10, 12:31 PM PST	River Flood Warning	HNX	Merced	12 days
Mar 10, 12:32 PM PST	River Flood Warning	HNX	Merced	16 hr
Mar 10, 2:20 PM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and 1 more	18 hr
Mar 10, 2:20 PM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno, Kern, Madera, Mariposa, Tulare, Tuolumne	18 hr
Mar 10, 2:31 PM PST	Areal Flood Warning	HNX	Tulare	18 hr
Mar 10, 3:48 PM PST	Areal Flood Advisory	HNX	Fresno	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 2023 Every flash flood warning in 2023

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.