rates of 1"/hour were seen for the two hours between 1500-1700. Heavy rain threatened to shut down Interstate-5 at 1608 PDT west of Los Banos due to water on the roadway.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 episode as NWS HNX wrote it up.
As measured from an automated gauge...2.33 inches of rain fell in a 3-hour period between 1400-1700 PDT just west of Los Banos...rates of 1"/hour were seen for the two hours between 1500-1700. Heavy rain threatened to shut down Interstate-5 at 1608 PDT west of Los Banos due to water on the roadway. Again severe thunderstorm or flash flood criteria were not quite met from this thunderstorm although warnings were issued due to high VIL and storm structure. Pea-size hail was noted by a mobile weather spotter north of Los Banos from 1710-1720 PDT as the thunderstorm moved toward Gustine.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Runoff from the western hills of Fresno County continued to plague area agriculture and cause local road hazards. Water from Arroyo Hondo flowed over Highway 33 south of Mendota and north of Interstate-5 but not to any great depth.
Very heavy rain from a thunderstorm ponded water on State Highway 152 on both the west and east ends of Los Banos in West Merced County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 1998
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: 5637744, 5637745.