Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in California, December 1 to 3, 2001

Name: Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in California, December 1 to 3, 2001
Start: 2001-12-01T18:00
End: 2001-12-03T04:00
Location: California

December 1 to 3, 2001 · NWS HNX · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

" Alta Sierra in the Kern Mountains received 7" during the episode. 54" at Merced.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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.

A major winter storm provided significant snowfall amounts to relatively low levels in the Southern Sierra Nevada of Interior Central California: Yosemite Valley received 7" of snow in less than 10 hours; Gin Flat at 7000' in the South Sierra had 50" in 34 hours with other reported amounts varying from 32-53"; Big Meadows at 7600' in the Tulare County Mountains received 31" in 20 hours with other amounts ranging from 17 to 31." Alta Sierra in the Kern Mountains received 7" during the episode. Valley rainfall included 0.54" at Merced. Bass Lake had 1.27" of rain with Shaver Lake receiving 1.79" during the event at lower mountain elevations. Gusty wind accompanying the front downed some power lines for customers in the Oakhurst and Fish Camp areas of the S.Sierra.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Dec 1, 3:50 PM PST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 1, 3:50 PM PST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
350 PM PST SAT DEC 1 2001

AWIPS PROBLEMS TODAY SO WILL NEED TO KEEP THIS SHORT. 990 MB SURFACE
LOW MOVING ONSHORE NEAR VANCOUVER ISLAND. ASSOCIATED COLD FRONTAL
PRECIPITATION BAND AND BAROCLINIC ZONE PUSHING INTO CENTRAL CA AT
THIS TIME. KHNX 88D INDICATING PRECIPITATION WITH THIS BAND IS
CURRENTLY SPREADING INTO THE SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND TULARE
COUNTY MOUNTAINS. KMUX 88D IS INDICATING HEAVIER PRECIPITATION IS
STILL TO COME TONIGHT. MODEL PROJECTED QPF/S OF UP TO 2 INCHES NEAR
YOSEMITE PARK BY SUNDAY NIGHT. SNOW LEVELS NEAR 5K FEET LOWERING
THROUGH MONDAY...SO WILL ISSUE A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR ZONE 96
TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. WILL ALSO ISSUE A WINTER STORM WATCH
FOR THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS WHERE HEAVIER PRECIPITATION IS NOT
EXPECTED UNTIL SUNDAY. SNOW LEVELS LOWER FROM 5000 FEET NORTH TO 6500
FEET SOUTH TONIGHT TO 2000 FEET NORTH TO 3000 FEET SOUTH BY MONDAY.
WILL HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL FOR SNOW AT PASS LEVEL IN KERN COUNTY WITH A
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO EVEN SEE SNOW IN
THE KERN DESERTS MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. EXPECT HEAVIEST
PRECIPITATION SUNDAY NIGHT WHEN CENTRAL CA IN IN THE LFQ OF A 140KT
250MB JET MAX WITH STRONG OMEGA OVERHEAD. OF THE 12Z MODELS THE AVN
HAD THE BEST HANDLE ON THE OFFSHORE LOW AND ASSOCIATED FEATURES...SO
WAS FOLLOWED FOR THE MOST PART. COMPROMISED BETWEEN FWC AND MAV FOR
GUIDANCE.

THE UPPER TROUGH WILL SLOWLY MOVE EAST OF CALIFORNIA DURING THE WEEK
AHEAD...ALLOWING FLAT RIDGE TO SLOWLY BUILD OVER OUR CWFA. A SLOW
WARMING AND DRYING TREND IS EXPECTED ALTHOUGH FROST MIGHT BE A
PROBLEM IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH COOLER
AIR TRAPPED IN THE VALLEY.

.HNX...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO
       KINGS CANYON TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT.
    ...WINTER STORM WATCH FOR THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS SUNDAY AND
       SUNDAY NIGHT.

DS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Dec 1, 3:39 PM PST, 2 hours 21 minutes before

CAZ095-021138-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY CA
339 PM PST SAT DEC 1 2001

...A STRONG PACIFIC STORM WILL APPROACH THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS
SUNDAY THROUGH MONDAY...

RAIN AND SNOW WILL DEVELOP OVER THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS ON
SUNDAY...AND CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF MONDAY. SNOW LEVELS WILL
INITIALLY BE NEAR 6500 FEET SUNDAY...BUT WILL LOWER TO NEAR 4000 BY
MONDAY MORNING. THIS WILL ALLOW SNOW TO FALL AT BOTH TEHACHAPI AND
TEJON PASS LEVELS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...AFFECTING TRAVEL ON
HIGHWAY 58 AND INTERSTATE 5.

ALTHOUGH THE PRECIPITATION WILL DIMINISH BY MONDAY EVENING...
NUMEROUS RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE MONDAY NIGHT AND
TUESDAY WITH SNOW LEVELS LOWERING TO NEAR 3000 FEET.

PERSONS PLANNING TRAVEL INTO THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS SUNDAY OR
MONDAY SHOULD MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR THEIR FAVORITE
NEWS SOURCE...FOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS AND FORECASTS.

OR VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/HANFORD

JSN

Event by event

3 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, S Sierra Mtns

When: December 1, 6:00 PM PST to December 3, 4:00 AM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: December 2, 8:00 AM PST to December 3, 4:00 AM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Heavy Snow, Kern Cty Mtns

When: December 2, 12:00 PM PST to 11:00 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm, S Sierra Foothills

When: December 2, 6:00 PM PST to December 3, 4:00 AM PST
Where: S Sierra Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in California, December 2001

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: 5276268, 5276269, 5276270, 5276267.