Hail in California, March 21, 2001

Name: Hail in California, March 21, 2001
Start: 2001-03-21T17:45
End: 2001-03-21T17:45
Location: California

March 21, 2001 · NWS EKA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Exact time of event is unknown - time is estimated from radar data. The following day three reports reached the WFO of 3/4 inch to 1 inch hail at approximately this time.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

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 happened

The episode as NWS EKA wrote it up.

Exact time of event is unknown - time is estimated from radar data. The following day three reports reached the WFO of 3/4 inch to 1 inch hail at approximately this time.

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 Mar 21, 2:30 PM PST, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 21, 2:30 PM PST, 3 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
230 PM PST WED MAR 21 2001

MAIN FACTORS FOR THIS EVENING WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS AS SHOWN BY SATELLITE AND RADAR OVER COAST
RANGES...AND WIDESPREAD STRATUS AND FOG ALONG THE COAST. LIGHTNING
STRIKES ARE OBSERVED OVER CENTRAL-EASTERN TRINITY COUNTY AT THIS
TIME. EXPECT FOG AND STRATUS TO PERSIST INTO THURSDAY ALONG COAST
WITH ONSHORE FLOW AND GRADUALLY DEEPENING MARINE LAYER...BUT FOG
SHOULD BE PATCHY INLAND AND BURN OFF DURING THE MORNING.
OTHERWISE...FOLLOWED GENERAL TRENDS OF AVN WITH BROAD UPPER LEVEL
TROUGH OFF SHORE WITH PARTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS PREDOMINATING INLAND.
INCREASINGLY STABLE CONDITIONS DUE TO WARMER TEMPERATURES IN MID
LEVELS ALONG WITH LOWER LAPSE RATES ALOFT...ARE EXPECTED FOR
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...SO NO PRECIPITATION FORECAST BEYOND THIS
EVENING. MAIN SHORT WAVE ENERGY WILL COME INTO PLAY BY FIRST DAY OF
EXTENDED FORECAST (SAT). SO...WILL MAKE ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO
EXTENDED FORECAST FOR THE WEEKEND. FOR DAY 6...ADDED A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS DUE TO A WEAK SHORT WAVE INDICATED IN BOTH MRF AND ECMWF.
JBL/MKN

CEC 0000 EKA 0000 UKI 2000.

.EKA...NONE.

NNNN

The radar

The Eureka (Bunker Hill) radar (KBHX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:46 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Trinity

When: March 21, 5:45 PM PST
Where: Trinity County, 1 mi W of Burnt Ranch
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 40.817, -123.483

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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, March 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: 5236434.