Name: Heavy Snow in California, December 13 to 14, 2001
Start: 2001-12-13T15:00
End: 2001-12-14T09:00
Location: California

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 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 Eureka, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 13, 8:30 AM PST, 6 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 13, 8:30 AM PST, 6 hours 30 minutes before

NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
830 AM PST THU DEC 13 2001

THE WINTER WEATHER WATCH HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO A WARNING AND WILL
LIKELY UPGRADE THE WIND WATCH TO WARNING STATUS LATER TODAY. ALSO
CONTINUING WITH THE COASTAL FLOOD WATCH DESPITE HPCS CONSISTANT
LOWERING OF QPFS OVER THEIR LAST FEW RUNS.  THE CFW IS MAINLY A
PRODUCT OF LOCAL TIDAL CONDITIONS CONTRIBUTING TO FLOODING PROBLEMS
TOMORROW.

NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSION AND MODEL RUNS...WILL
CONTINUE TO LATCH ON TO THE AVN AS ETA PERSISTS AT BEING BIT LIGHT
ON THE WINDS BUT BOTH MODELS KEEP THE MAIN LOW CENTER SLIGHTLY MORE
NORTH.  NONETHELESS EXPECT GRADIENTS TO BE TIGHT ENOUGH TO WARRENT
THE A WIND WARNING.  850 WINDS NEAR 60KT TONIGHT AND SUFFICIENT COLD
AIR SHOULD HELP ENTRAINMENT DOWN TO THE SURFACE.    THE FRONT STILL
PROGGED TO MOVE THROUGH THE FA TONIGHT...HEAVY RAINS AND A SLIGHT
CHANCE FOR TS TOMORROW. AS MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS... THIS
SYSTEM IS FAST MOVING BUT WILL DUMP A FAIR AMOUNT OF RA AND SNOW
BEFORE THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH.  AFTER THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH...MAY
SEE AN ADDITIONAL .5 INCHES OF RAIN.  SNOW LEVELS WILL BE HIGH AT
FIRST...STARTING OUT AT 5000-5500 FEET TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT.  AS
THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH LEVELS WILL DROP DOWN TO 4500 FEET AROUND
MIDNIGHT AND THEN LOWERING TO 2500-3000 FT TOWARDS MORNING.

GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND...RIDGE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE E PAC AND MOVE
OVER CA...HOWEVER SHOULD BE ENUF COLD AIR ALOFT TO KEEP A THREAT OF
SHOWERS THROUGH EARLY SAT...ESPECIALLY NORTH.  ANOTHER DOSE OF WAA
MOVES INTO THE PAC NW LATE ON SAT SO LOOKING FOR CAT POPS SAT NIGHT
AND SUN.  NEXT SIGNIFICANT SYSTEM TO MOVE THROUGH MON MORNING.

...PRELIM POP SECTION...
POPS CEC 8+865  ACV/EKA 7+855 UKI 68753

.EKA...GALE WARNING PT ST GEORGE TO PT ARENA OUT 60NM.
...HIGH SURF ADVISORY TONIGHT PT ST GEORGE TO PT ARENA.
...WINTER STORM WARNING CAZ004 TONIGHT.
...HIGH WIND WATCH CAZ001>003 TONIGHT AND EARLY FRI.
...COASTAL FLOOD WATCH CAZ001-002 TONIGHT THROUGH FRI.

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Upper Trinity River

When: December 13, 3:00 PM PST to December 14, 9:00 AM PST
Where: Upper Trinity River forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Up to 10 inches of snow fell above 2500 feet elevation.

What these are

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

More

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: 5275811.