California, 2001

Flooding in California, March 5 to 6, 2001

March 5 to 6, 2001 · NWS HNX · 5 events in 3 counties and zones

Heavy rain led to roads being washed out at Panoche Creek and Silver Creek Roads and Highway 33/198 in far west Fresno County. Within Fresno City numerous intersections were flooded due to the substantial rain from the period beginning late on the 4th and into the early hours on the 6th.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
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.

Heavy rain led to roads being washed out at Panoche Creek and Silver Creek Roads and Highway 33/198 in far west Fresno County. Within Fresno City numerous intersections were flooded due to the substantial rain from the period beginning late on the 4th and into the early hours on the 6th. Heavy rain led to small stream flooding in the foothills of the Southern Sierra Nevada around Mariposa and mudflows around Lebec in the Kern County Mountains. Some rainfall amounts reported during the period from the 4th through the 6th included: 2.99" at Coalinga, 2.20" at Avenal, 1.35" at Chowchilla, and 0.89" at Fresno on the San Joaquin Valley floor; 2.02" at Mariposa, 2.69" at Yosemite and 2.76" at Graveyard Meadow in the Southern Sierra Nevada; and, 6.10" at Frazier Park and 4.05" at Pine Mountain in the Tehachapi Mountains of Kern County.

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 Mar 5, 2:30 AM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 5, 2:30 AM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes before
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
230 AM PST MON MAR 05 2001

DEEP UPPER LOW OFFSHORE WITH VORTS NEAR 41N/127W AND 34N/128W
DUMB-BELLING WITHIN CIRCULATION. SOUTHERN VORT WAS DIGGING SE THIS
MORNING HELPING TO SLOW EASTWARD PROGRESSION OF OLD FRONTAL BAND...
AND MAINTAINING AXIS OF ONE INCH PW/S OVER THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR.
WITH GOOD THICKNESS AND UPPER DIFLUENCE OVER THE REGION...MODERATE
TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE OVER THE FA. ALTHOUGH
ONLY LOCAL FLOODING HAS BEEN OBSERVED THUS FAR...WITH SURFACE
CONDITIONS ALREADY SATURATED...AND WITH ADDITIONAL RAIN FALLING ON
SNOWPACK BTWN 4-6K...RUNOFF TODAY WILL INCREASE HYDRO CONCERNS AND
WILL ISSUE FLOOD ADVISORIES FOR THE CENTRAL/SOUTHERN SJ VALLEY AND
ADJACENT SIERRA FOOTHILLS THROUGH 2100 PST. PRECIP EXPERIENCED A
SLOWER ONSET ACROSS THE KERN MOUNTAINS SUN WITH SLIGHTLY LOWER SNOW
LEVELS OBSERVED. HOWEVER STRONG S-SE FLOW WILL ENHANCE PRECIP TODAY
AND BE COMBINED WITH RISING SNOW LEVELS. SINCE PRECIP WILL BE MORE
PROLONGED IN NATURE...WILL CHANGE FLASH FLOOD WATCH TO SMALL STREAM
FLOOD ADVISORY FOR KERN MTNS TODAY AND EXTEND THROUGH TONIGHT.

DESPITE S-SE FLOW AND MINIMAL OROGRAPHICS OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERRA
...WITH MOISTURE AXIS AND DEEP UVM IN PLACE HIER ELEVS WILL CONT TO
EXCEED WINTER STORM WARNING CRITERIA TODAY. PROGS ARE SIMILAR SHOWING
SOUTHERN VORT BECOMING DOMINANT LATER TODAY AND THIS WILL ALLOW BULK
OF DYNAMICS TO SHIFT OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE FA. NEVERTHELESS
...PRECIP WILL CONT INTO TONIGHT AND WINTER STORM WARNINGS WILL BE
EXTENDED. WITH PROGS SHOWING LOW MOVING SLOWLY INLAND OVER SOCAL
LATE TUES/TUES NGT...STRONGEST DYNAMICS WILL MOVE SE OF THE FA AND
PRECIP SHOULD SLOWLY DIMINISH.

SFO-SBA GRADS HAVE RELAXED CONSIDERABLY DURING THE PAST 12 HOURS AS
SURFACE LOW OFF THE NORCAL COAST SLOWLY FILLS. HOWEVER...SFC LOW
APPROX 400 MILES WEST OF PT CONCEPTION WILL CONT TO DEEPEN AS VORT
NEAR 34N/128W PROCEEDS SE AND ENHANCES UVM ABOVE CIRCULATION.
ALTHOUGH P-GRADS WILL BE SUSTAINED ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE
FA TODAY...STRONGEST SPEEDS SHOULD BE CONFINED TO E-W ORIENTED
PASSES AND WILL ALLOW WAD FOR KERN MTNS TO EXPIRE WITH 4 AM PACKAGE.

AFTER A BRIEF RESPITE FROM PRECIP DURING MIDWEEK...MEDIUM RANGE
PROGS INDICATE ANOTHER TROUGH DEEPENING OFFSHORE WITH A RENEWED
THREAT OF RAIN BY FRIDAY.

.HNX...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND THE
       KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS ABOVE 6000 FEET TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT.
    ...URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE CENTRAL AND
       SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY TODAY THROUGH THIS EVENING.
    ...SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE SIERRA NEVADA AND KERN
       COUNTY MOUNTAINS BELOW 6000 FEET TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT.

JSN

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Fresno

When
March 5, 8:00 AM PST to March 6, 4:00 AM PST
Where
Fresno County, Fresno
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
36.758, -119.649 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Mariposa

When
March 5, 8:00 AM PST to 9:00 PM PST
Where
Mariposa County, Mariposa
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
37.582, -119.905 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Fresno

When
March 5, 8:33 AM PST to March 6, 4:00 AM PST
Where
Fresno County, 20 mi WSW of Mendota
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
36.758, -119.649 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Fresno

When
March 5, 8:33 AM PST to March 6, 4:00 AM PST
Where
Fresno County, 5 mi NNE of Coalinga
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
36.758, -119.649 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Kern

When
March 5, 11:40 AM PST to 9:00 PM PST
Where
Kern County, Lebec
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5237954, 5237955, 5237952, 5237953, 5237956.