Cold/Wind Chill, Southern San Joaquin Valley
- When
- December 24, 2:00 AM PST to December 26, 8:00 AM PST
- Where
- Southern San Joaquin Valley forecast zone
Note narrative on fog for same time period.
Cold and Dense Fog in California, December 24 to 26, 1997
Three consecutive mornings saw temperatures in the mid 20s for the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley agricultural districts. Hanford dropped to 24 degrees with several other locations showing similar numbers in the center portion of the valley and the mid to upper 20s in the citrus belts.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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 HNX wrote it up.
Three consecutive mornings saw temperatures in the mid 20s for the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley agricultural districts. Hanford dropped to 24 degrees with several other locations showing similar numbers in the center portion of the valley and the mid to upper 20s in the citrus belts. At the same time and a bit infrequent, fog formed and roads iced with the combination of low temperatures and available moisture from dense fog.
Event by event
2 cold/wind chill, 1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Cold/Wind Chill, Central San Joaquin Valley
- When
- December 24, 2:00 AM PST to December 26, 8:00 AM PST
- Where
- Central San Joaquin Valley forecast zone
Note narrative on fog for same time period.
Dense Fog, Central San Joaquin Valley
- When
- December 26, 12:00 AM PST to 10:00 AM PST
- Where
- Central San Joaquin Valley forecast zone
What these are
- Cold/Wind Chill
- Cold or wind chill below warning criteria that caused deaths, injuries or damage.
- Dense Fog
- Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heavy Snow in Kansas, December 24, 1997
- Tornadoes in Alabama, December 24, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, December 24 to 25, 1997
- Flooding in Georgia, December 24 to 28, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Iowa, December 24, 1997
- Flood in Florida, December 24 to 26, 1997
- Dense Fog in Oregon, December 24 to 25, 1997
- Winter Weather in New York, December 24 to 25, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Iowa, December 24, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Colorado, December 24 to 25, 1997
- Heavy Snow in Illinois, December 24, 1997
- Winter Storm in Missouri, December 24, 1997
More
Every storm in California in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 1997
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: 5626857, 5626858, 5626859.