Name: High Wind in California, January 29, 2001
Start: 2001-01-29T11:46
End: 2001-01-29T22:00
Location: California

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 blustery day in the southern portion of Interior Central California in the Kern County Mountains and Deserts. Cache Peak had a gust to 70 MPH with Mountain Valley Airport sustaining 35 MPH, Jawbone Canyon at 53 MPH, and Zond Wind Farm at 50 MPH. On the desert floor Edwards AFB had gusts to 41 knots.

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 Jan 29, 8:45 AM PST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 8:45 AM PST, 3 hours 1 minute before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
845 AM PST MON JAN 29 2001

SURFACE COLD FRONT HAS MOVED INTO MERCED COUNTY AT THIS TIME...WITH
SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWERS FROM LOS BANOS TO MADERA AND LIGHT SNOW IN
THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. HAVE UPDATED
NORTHERN ZONES TO INTRODUCE MORNING POPS. HOWEVER...SOUTHERN END OF
THE FRONT IS HOLDING TOGERTHER BETTER THAN EXPECTED...AND BRIEF
PRECIPITATION MAY BET AS FAR SOUTH AS HANFORD OR VISALIA BY 18-19Z.

SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW A WELL-DEFINED BACK EDGE TO THE SURFACE COLD
FRONT...CURRENTLY ALONG A LINE FROM MONTEREY BAY TO SOUTH OF TRAVIS
AFB. EXTRAPOLATION BASED ON SATELLITE LOOPS HAS THE COLD FRONT OVER
THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS BY 22Z THIS AFTERNOON...AND EAST OF THE
HANFORD WARNING/FORECAST AREA BY 04Z TUESDAY.

BEHIND THE FRONT...EXPECT STRATOCUMULUS WILL BANK AGAINST THE SIERRA
NEVADA AND TEHACHAPI FOOTHILLS...WITH DECREASING CLOUDS ELSEWHERE.
BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING...AND PERSIST
INTO TUESDAY BEFORE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS RELAX. THERE WILL BE
SUFFICIENT MIXING AT THE LOWER LEVELS TONIGHT TO INHIBIT DENSE FOF
FORMATION AND ALSO TO KEEP MOST VALLEY MINIMUMS ABOVE FREEZING. WILL
SEE A RETURN TO A WINTER TULE FOG REGIME WEDNESDAY MORNING AS A HIGH
PRESSURE RIDGE BUILDS IN ALOFT OPVER CALIFORNIA AND STRENGTHENS THE
INVERSION. ALOFT...LOOK FOR A WARMING TREND INTO THE WEEKEND UNDER
CLEAR SKIES...EXCEPT FOR SOME MID/HIGH-LEVEL CLOUDS FRIDAY THROUGH
THE QEEKEND AS A WEAK SHORT-WAVE TROUGH PASSES NORTH OF THE REGION.

POPS FAT 100 BFL 000 YNP 300. SANGER

.HNX...NONE.

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: January 29, 11:46 AM PST to 10:00 PM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Kern Cty Mtns

When: January 29, 12:00 PM PST to 10:00 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

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

More

Every storm in California in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in California, January 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: 5230123, 5230122.