Funnel Cloud, Merced
- When
- March 28, 4:14 PM PST
- Where
- Merced County, Plainsburg
- Coordinates
- 37.192, -120.718 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Hail less than 3/4" in diameter and funnel reported by Merced County Sheriff.
Hail in California, March 28, 1998
2 hail, 1 funnel cloud, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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
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.
The radar
The San Francisco radar (KMUX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:28 UTC.
Event by event
2 hail, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail, Madera
- When
- March 28, 4:30 PM PST to 4:50 PM PST
- Where
- Madera County, Madera to 5 mi SE of Chowchilla
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.020, -120.130
Spotter report of 3/4" hail swath from northwest to southeast along State Highway 99 in Madera County.
Hail, Merced
- When
- March 28, 5:15 PM PST
- Where
- Merced County, 5 mi S of Merced
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 37.230, -120.480
Spotter report of 3/4" hail.
What these are
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood in Arizona, March 28, 1998
- Heavy Snow and Hail in California, March 28 to 29, 1998
- Tornado in Illinois, March 28, 1998
- Flood and Hail in California, March 28 to 31, 1998
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Michigan, March 28, 1998
- High Wind in Ohio, March 28, 1998
- High Wind in New York, March 28, 1998
- Flash Flood in New York, March 28 to 31, 1998
- Flash Flood in Vermont, March 28 to 31, 1998
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Indiana, March 28, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Illinois, March 28, 1998
- Heavy Snow in Montana, March 28 to 29, 1998
More
Every storm in California in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 1998
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: 5637687, 5637686, 5637685.