Heavy rain, associated flooding, and the potential for mudslides closed Mooney Road in Jamestown and the Old Priest Grade to Groveland.
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 STO wrote it up.
Heavy rain, associated flooding, and the potential for mudslides closed Mooney Road in Jamestown and the Old Priest Grade to Groveland.
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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 10, 2:30 PM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
230 PM PST WED JAN 10 2001
SOUTHEAST WIND GUSTS 40 TO 50 MPH ALREADY OBSERVED IN THE SAC VALLEY
AND DELTA. SMF HAD PEAK WIND GUSTS TO 46KT SO WE ARE GETTING CLOSE
TO HIGH WIND WARNING CRITERIA. DEEPENING SURFACE LOW OFFSHORE NEAR
40N AND INSIDE 130W...PROGGED TO REACH AROUND 985-MB. WILL KEEP
WINDY CONDITIONS THIS EVE AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT. 8.5-MB SAC-FAT
GRADIENT. WINDS WILL CONTINUE THRU THURSDAY AS THE LOW SLOWLY FILLS
AND DROPS SOUTH OVER THE BAY AREA BUT MAY BE JUST UNDER ADVISORY
CRITERIA. WARM FRONT MAY HAVE TROUBLE REACHING NORTHERN ZONES TODAY
SO NRN SAC VALLEY IS NOT IN THE WIND ADVISORY. MAX 10-M WINDS ON THE
ETA REACH 25 TO 33 KT AT SAC AND SCK. A 50-KT H85 JET PASSES RIGHT
OVER THE SRN SAC VALLEY LATE TODAY.
0.70 TO 1.25 INCH RAINFALL HAS OCCURRED IN LAKE COUNTY AND THE WEST
SAC VALLEY INCLUDING DELTA. RADAR SHOWS FIRST RAIN SHIELD ALREADY IN
THE SIERRA NEVADA WITH STRONGEST RETURNS NOW IN THE BAY AREA AND
MOVING THRU THE SAC VALLEY. VIS SATELLITE SHOWS FRONTAL PASSAGE NOW
PUSHING INTO THE NORTH BAY. FRONT WHICH IS TAPPING SUBTROPICAL
MOISTURE MAY BE SLOW TO CLEAR THE EAST SIDE OF SAC VALLEY AS WATER
VAPOR STILL SHOWS A SLIGHT NEGATIVE TILT TO THE TROF AND DARKENING
ON THE BACK SIDE (DIGGING) AND H2 JET ROUNDING THE BASE OF IT. 18Z
ETA SHOWS SATURATED H7 LEVEL AND OMEGA OVER THE SIERNEV THRU
09Z...THEN MAYBE A BRIEF BREAK AS A DRY SLOT MOVES INTO THE SAC
VALLEY 05Z-12Z AND SIERNEV BETWEEN 09Z-16Z. ABUNDANT H85 MOISTURE
AND WEAK VORTS IN THE CYCLONIC ONSHORE FLOW WILL KEEP SOME SHOWERS
OVER NORCAL IN BETWEEN SYSTEMS. SATELLITE ALREADY SHOWS COLD CLOUD
TOPS GOING INSIDE 125W SO SIGNIFICANT BREAK WILL BE MINIMAL.
HAVE NOT INCLUDED THUNDER BUT CERTAINLY WITH STRONG DYNAMICS...WIND
SHEAR AND MARGINAL INSTABILITY THERE WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN
POSSIBLE THUNDER. AHEAD OF FRONT EXPECT A SQUALL LINE OF HEAVY RAIN
TO MOVE THRU THE SAC VALLEY LATE TODAY OR EARLY THIS EVENING INTO
FOOTHILLS. BEST UPPER DIVERGENCE WITH CYCLONIC CURVED JET IS THIS
AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING COUPLE WITH BEST H7-5 QVEC CONVERGENCE
AND A BROAD AREA OF STRONG H7 OMEGA (10 TO 20 MBARS/SEC). OUR
HEAVIEST RAIN WILL BE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING. THIS
WILL BECOME CONCENTRATED OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERNEV TONIGHT.
SOUTHEAST SURFACE FLOW WILL PROVIDE GOOD OROGRAPHICS FOR THE COASTAL
RANGE AND SHASTA COUNTY...SOUTHWEST H7 FLOW AT 50 TO 60 KT WILL GIVE
GOOD LIFT TO THE SIERNEV. VIEWING TOTAL PRECIP FROM THE 18Z ETA AT
20-KM AND IN BUFKIT YIELDS 1.9 INCHES AT SAC...2.0 RDD...1.8
BLU...AND 1.46 SCK...WITH 2+ INCH TOTALS IN OROGRAPHIC AREAS
MENTIONED ABOVE. MOST PRECIP IS THRU 06Z TONIGHT WHEN STRONG H85
MOISTURE CONVERGENCE GOES THRU THE VALLEY.
UPPER TROF AXIS MOVES ALONG THE COAST AND OVERHEAD ON THURSDAY WITH
THE SURFACE REFLECTION LOW SLIDING OVER THE BAY AREA. THIS WILL KEEP
HEAVIEST RAIN ON THE COAST...BUT WIDESPREAD SHOWERS SHOULD MOVE BACK
OVER THE CWA AS INDICATED BY H7 OMEGA AND DEEP LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
MOVING THRU FROM WEST TO EAST OVER NORCAL 18Z THRU 06Z FRIDAY. LOCALLY
HEAVY SHOWERS...POSSIBLE THUNDER...IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY AS LAPSE
RATES STEEPEN UNDER COLD POOL AND CONTINUED SOUTHEAST SURFACE FORCING.
700-MB FLOW BECOMES MORE SOUTHERLY...LESS SIERRA UPSLOPE...BUT
REMAINS 40 TO 45KT. -10C H7 TEMPS SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO NEAR
MOTHERLODE. MAY NEED SNOW ADVISORY THERE...BUT THINKING IS THAT
ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE 3000 FEET OR ABOVE. SUBSIDENCE BEGINS THURSDAY
NIGHT AFTER 06Z AS THE TROF AXIS MOVES TO OUR EAST. CYCLONIC FLOW
AND H85 MOISTURE LINGERS THRU FRIDAY SO WILL KEEP SCATTERED SHOWERS
IN THE FORECAST ESPECIALLY THE HIGHER TERRAIN AS A SHEARED VORT
ROTATES AROUND THE UPPER LOW. INCREASING NORTH FLOW WILL BEGIN
DRYING TREND.
LONGER RANGE MODELS CONSISTENT WITH A WEAK SHORT WAVE DIVING FROM
MUCH FURTHER NORTH TRAJECTORY LATE SATURDAY. MOISTURE AT THIS TIME
LOOKS MARGINAL BUT WILL LEAVE CHANCE MENTIONED MOST ZONES...
ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN. SUBSIDENCE AND INCREASING NORTH
FLOW DEVELOPS ON SUNDAY AS ENERGY DIVES INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST
AND SOCAL DEVELOPING A CUT OFF LOW. THIS LOW WILL KEEP US IN A DRY
NORTHERLY FLOW THRU MID WEEK WITH RIDGING INTO THE PACNW.
.STO...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT THRU THURSDAY FOR THE
SOUTHERN CASCADES AND MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHWESTERN SHASTA AND
NORTHERN LAKE COUNTIES...WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA
NEVADA...AND LASSEN PARK/ WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CLEAR LAKE/SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY
FOR TONIGHT THRU THURSDAY...
...WIND ADVISORY THRU THIS EVENING FOR THE CENTRAL AND
SOUTHERN SAC VALLEY...SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...DELTA...SOUTHERN
LAKE COUNTY...NORTHERN SAC VALLEY FOOTHILLS AND MOTHERLODE...
BLU SJ 028/032 026/035 030 65++8
RBL RE 042/046 040/053 034 65++6
SAC RE 043/048 039/052 034 65++5
TARDY1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2001
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: 5228478.