Winter Storm in California, December 30 to 31, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in California, December 30 to 31, 2001
Start: 2001-12-30T16:00
End: 2001-12-31T03:00
Location: California

December 30 to 31, 2001 · NWS HNX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A fast moving winter frontal passage deposited significant amounts of snow in less than 12 hours at only the high elevations of the Southern Sierra Nevada. Sierra had 19" of new snow in 9 hours while Wet Meadows in Tulare County had 28" in 11 hours.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 fast moving winter frontal passage deposited significant amounts of snow in less than 12 hours at only the high elevations of the Southern Sierra Nevada. Mitchell Meadow in the S.Sierra had 19" of new snow in 9 hours while Wet Meadows in Tulare County had 28" in 11 hours. Lodgepole received 0.94" of rain on Sunday the 30th (right at the snow line). Valley rainfall amounts: Exeter 1.44", Visalia 1.08", Fresno 0.63", and Porterville 0.43". While November and December were much above normal in precipitation for Interior Central California, Northern California indices showed rainfall at 152% of average-to-date.

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 30, 2:00 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 30, 2:00 PM PST, 2 hours before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
200 PM PST SUN DEC 30 2001

OVERRUNNING PRECIP ALREADY MOVING INTO THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR...
JUST ABOUT IN LINE WITH THIS MORNINGS AVN QPF FIELD...AND ABOUT 10
HOURS FASTER THAN THE ETA OR NGM. THIS HAS BEEN THE TREND MUCH OF
THE SEASON...AND WILL FOLLOW AVN FOR MOST OF THIS FCST. WILL SEE
SOME PRECIP THIS EVE WITH OVERRUNNING...THEN MAIN FRONT MOVES THRU
AROUND 12Z. SYSTEM MOVES EAST MON MORNING...WITH MOST PRECIP
ENDING...THEN PARTIAL CLEARING IN THE AFTERNOON. SHORTWAVE RIDGE TO
BUILD BACK IN BRIEFLY MON AFTERNOON AND EARLY TUES. ON TUES...AVN
SHOWS NEXT OVERRUNNING BATCH OF PRECIP REACHING CENTRAL CA TUES
AFTERNOON...WITH MAIN FRONTAL BAND PRECIP STILL WELL OFFSHORE.
FRONTAL BAND PRECIP WITH THIS SYS WILL BE MUCH SLOWER MOVING THRU
CENTRAL CA THAN TONITES SYS. THUS WILL EXPECT A GOOD DEAL OF PRECIP
TO OCCUR IN CENTRAL CA TUES NITE THROUGH WED. SNOW LEVELS FCST TO
REMAIN FAIRLY HIGH FOR WHAT COULD OCCUR THIS TIME OF YEAR...RANGING
FROM 5-6K. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE SIGNIFICANT ABOVE 6-7K AND
WINTER STORM WATCHES WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED FOR TUES NITE AND WED.
PRECIP WILL BEGIN TO TAPER OFF WED NITE...THEN END THURS MORNING.
FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED...SHORTWAVE RIDGE TAKES OVER THURS
AFTERNOON AND ON INTO SUN. HOWEVER...THERE IS A FLY IN THE OINTMENT
SAT. MODELS IN SOME DISAGREEMENT IN STRENGTH OF WEEKEND RIDGE.
THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT ANOTHER UNDERCUTTING SHORTWAVE IN THE
SOUTHERN STREAM COULD BREAK THRU...AND BRING ANOTHER CHANCE OF
PRECIP TO CENTRAL CA. HOWEVER...FOR NOW...WILL FOLLOW MRF TRENDS...
AND KEEP ZONES DRY FOR NOW...WITH ANY OVERRUNNING STAYING IN NORCAL.
TEMPS THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE FCST PERIOD WILL BE AT OR ABOVE
SEASONAL NORMS. FAT +406 BFL +504 YNP +807

.HNX...SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 7000 FEET FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA FROM
       YOSEMITE PARK TO THE KERN COUNTY LINE...TONIGHT THROUGH NOON
       MONDAY.

BINGHAM

Event by event

2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, S Sierra Mtns

When: December 30, 4:00 PM PST to December 31, 1:00 AM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

Winter Storm, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: December 30, 4:00 PM PST to December 31, 3:00 AM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns 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.

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: 5275634, 5275635.