Winter Storm and High Wind in California, December 14, 2001

Name: Winter Storm and High Wind in California, December 14, 2001
Start: 2001-12-14T00:00
End: 2001-12-14T23:59
Location: California

December 14, 2001 · NWS HNX · 5 events in 5 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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 classic winter storm moved through Central California on the 14th marked by substantial snowfall and high wind. In the higher elevations of the Southern Sierra Ostrander Lake received 23" of snow in 16 hours, while Chagoopa Plateau had 13" in less than 10 hours. Indian Wells Canyon recorded wind gusts to 63 KTS while Mojave Airport reached 80 KTS in the Kern County Deserts. Sandberg Weather Station had wind to 45 MPH in the Tehachapi Mountains.

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 13, 9:20 PM PST, 2 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 13, 9:20 PM PST, 2 hours 40 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
920 PM PST THU DEC 13 2001

SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW A WELL DEFINED UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH...WITH ITS
AXIS ALONG 128W AT THIS TIME. OVERRUNNING HIGH CLOUDS HAVE SPREAD
OVER MOST OF THE HANFORD WARNING/FORECAST AREA...AND SURFACE
OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT LOW CLOUDS AND RAIN HAVE REACHED AS FAR
SOUTH AS THE SACRAMENTO DELTA AT 05Z. THE 00Z MESO-ETA APPEARS TO BE
HANDLING THE PRECIPITATION WELL...AND BRINGS THE LEADING EDGE OF THE
RAIN/SNOW TO YOSEMITE BY 06Z. RAIN IS FORECAST TO REACH MERCED
AROUND MIDNIGHT...AND FRESNO BY 10Z.

THE SYSTEM IS FAST MOVING...BOTH ON SATELLITE LOOPS AND ON THE
MODELS...BUT HAS IMPRESSIVE DYNAMICS. THE 18Z ETA RUN FORECAST A
700-MB VERTICAL VELOCITY OF +20.0 MICROBARS/SECOND OVER FRESNO AT
12Z FRIDAY...AND THE NEW 00Z RUN IS ONLY SLIGHTLY WEAKER...WITH A
700-MB VERTICAL VELOCITY OF +16.6 MICROBARS/SECOND AT 12Z. THE MODEL
FOUS FORECASTS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT WITH STORM TOTAL PRECIPITATION
FOR FRESNO BETWEEN 1/4 AND 1/3 OF AN INCH.

THE ETA BRINGS THE COLD FRONT THROUGH FRESNO BY 18Z FRIDAY...WITH
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY PRECIPITATION DIMINISHING RAPIDLY BY 21Z. FOR THE
MOUNTAINS...THE ETA FORECAST QPF FOR YOSEMITE IS AROUND 1 INCH. THE
850-MB TEMPERATURE AT YOSEMITE DROPS TO 0 C BY 15Z FRIDAY...AND
700-MB TEMPERATURES FALL TO -10 C...FOR A LIKELY SNOW LEVEL AROUND
3500 FEET...DROPPING EVEN FURTHER DURING THE DAY. THE WINTER STORM
WARNING FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA LOOKS ON TRACK FOR LATE
TONIGHT AND FRIDAY. FORECAST PROBLEM FOR THE MORNING PACKAGE WILL BE
THE WATCHES CURRENTLY POSTED FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND
DESERTS.

THE QPF FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS IS ABOUT 1/4 INCH FOR FRIDAY...
WITH THE SNOW LEVEL DROPPING TO 3500-4000 FEET. HOWEVER...COULD SEE
SOME FAVORABLE OROGRAPHIC DEVELOPMENT...ESPECIALLY OVER THE KERN
COUNTY SIERRA...AS THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH. ANOTHER FACTOR WILL BE
THE WINDS OVER THE MOUNTAINS...AND THE DESERTS. THE 00Z MESO-ETA HAS
STRONG 700-MB POST-FRONTAL SUBSIDENCE OVER THE KERN COUNTY SIERRA AT
21Z WITH A -20 OMEGA BULLSEYE OVER THE WALKER PASS. THE 500-MB JET
HAS AN 80-KT SPEED MAX OVER KERN COUNTY BY 00Z SATURDAY...WITH
700-MB 50-KT SPEED MAXES MOVING OVER LOS ANGELES AND SOUTHERN KERN
COUNTIES. THE STRONG SUBSIDENCE FORECAST COULD DRAW THESE MID-LEVEL
WINDS DOWN NEAR THE SURFACE...AND FUNNEL THEM THROUGH THE PASSES FOR
VERY WINDY CONDITIONS IN THE KERN DESERTS. SUSPECT THE MIDNIGHT CREW
MAY OPT EITHER TO UPGRADE THE WINTER STORM WATCH FOR THE KERN COUNTY
MOUNTAINS TO A WINTER STORM WARNING...OR A COMBINATION OF A SNOW
ADVISORY AND HIGH WIND WARNING. FOR THE DESERTS...HIGH WIND CRITERIA
LIKELY WILL BE MET BY THE AFTERNOON IN THE INDIAN WELLS VALLEY...AND
LOCALLY NEAR MOJAVE...WITH WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA ELSEWHERE. BIGGEST
UNCERTAINTY WILL BE HOW FAST THE WINDS SUBSIDE IN THE EVENING. WOULD
NOT BE SURPRISED IF THE INDIAN WELLS VALLEY CONTINUES TO SEE HIGH
WINDS AFTER THE MOJAVE DESERT WINDS BEGIN TO DIMINISH.

POPS FAT 9900 BFL 2700 YNP ++00. SANGER

.HNX...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY FOR THE SOUTHERN
       SIERRA NEVADA...FROM YOSEMITE TO THE KERN COUNTY LINE.
    ...WINTER STORM WATCH FRIDAY FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS.
    ...HIGH WIND WATCH FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT FOR THE KERN COUNTY
       DESERTS.

Event by event

3 high wind, 2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, S Sierra Mtns

When: December 14, 12:00 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: December 14, 6:00 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Indian Wells Vly

When: December 14, 7:13 AM PST to 7:13 PM PST
Where: Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
Measured: 63 kt (72 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Kern Cty Mtns

When: December 14, 9:53 AM PST to 11:59 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: December 14, 12:46 PM PST to 11:15 PM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Measured: 80 kt (92 mph)
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.
High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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: 5276359, 5276360, 5276361, 5276363, 5276362.