Lightning, Kern
- When
- March 6, 7:00 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, Oildale
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood and Lightning Strikes in California, March 6, 2001
A fierce thunderstorm flooded numerous streets in Bakersfield and triggered a 2-hour power outage to 2,000 utility customers from a lightning strike in the Oildale area around 1900 PST and another around 1950 PST in west Bakersfield. Flooding impeded traffic in a least 19 different locations from the cloudburst.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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 fierce thunderstorm flooded numerous streets in Bakersfield and triggered a 2-hour power outage to 2,000 utility customers from a lightning strike in the Oildale area around 1900 PST and another around 1950 PST in west Bakersfield. Flooding impeded traffic in a least 19 different locations from the cloudburst. This thunderstorm activity ended an inclement weather period of rain and wind for the South San Joaquin Valley that began on the 4th.
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 6, 3:30 PM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 6, 3:30 PM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 330 PM PST TUE MAR 6 2001 STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO GRADUALLY WIND DOWN THRU TONIGHT. UPPER LOW CENTER STARTING TO SHOW NOTICEABLE EASTWARD PROGRESSION...AND SHOULD FINALLY PASS SOUTH OF POINT CONCEPTION LATE THIS AFTN AND CROSS 120W THIS EVENING. WILL INDICATE DECREASING TREND TO PRECIP/POPS ACROSS THE BOARD AFTER THIS EVENING...AND ALLOW KERN MTN WSW WARNING/FLOOD ADVISORY TO EXPIRE. AS EXPECTED RAINFALL IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VLLY AND FOOTHILLS HAS BECOME MORE SCARCE THIS AFTN UNDER THE IMPACT OF DOWNSLOPING EASTERLY FLOW OVER THE SIERRA. MAIN ACTIVITY HAS SHIFTED NEAR TULARE AND FRESNO HI ELEVATIONS MAINLY RIGHT ALONG THE CREST AND WILL TAPER BY LATE NIGHT. STILL A SLIGHT CHC FOR ISOLATED CONVECTION NEAR KERN COUNTY...MARGINAL INSTABILITY BUT ENOUGH FOR A FEW CELLS POPPING AROUND SLO COUNTY. THEN BREAK IN PRECIPITATION FOR A LITTLE WHILE. ALTHO PROSPECTS ARE MINIMAL WILL KEEP SLGT CHC ON SIERRA CREST FOR WED. LOW TO MID LEVEL MOISTURE STILL REMAINS ELEVATED DURING WED. FLOW IN THESE LAYERS BECOMING NW AND INCREASING DURING THE AFTN. EXPECT UPSLOPE FLOW TO GENERATE PLENTY OF CLOUD COVER BANKING AGAINST SIERRA/TEHACHAPIS AND WILL INDICATE VARIABLE CLOUDS E-S EDGES OF SJ VLLY. SHORT LIVED CLEARING TREND TO FOLLOW WED NITE...ENOUGH TO ALLOW A BIT OF PATCHY FOG IN SJV. NEXT SYSTEM WILL BE TAKING SHAPE STARTING ON THURS. EXPECT THIS NEXT ONE TO BE COLDER WITH LOWER SNOW LEVELS...WITH SIGNIFICANTLY LESS QPF THAN THE LAST SVRL BIG EVENTS. BULK OF QPF FRI/SAT. PREFER COMPROMISE ETA-AVN ON TROUGH DIGGING DOWN THE WEST COAST DURING THE DAY THURS. MID LEVEL UVM INCREASES DURING THURS AFTERNOON FOR A CHANCE OF SHOWERS YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON...MAINLY HIER ELEVATIONS INITIALLY. THEN INCRG LIKELIHOOD FOR RAIN SPREADING N-S OVER THE CWA THURS NITE-FRI. MED RANGE MODELS ARE OPTIMISTIC WITH THE WEEKEND SYSTEM WINDING DOWN BY SUNDAY. WILL STRIP POPS OUT OF SJV BUT KEEP CHC OF A FEW LINGERING SHOWERS IN MTNS FOR NOW. EARLY NEXT WEEK...STILL QUITE EARLY BUT A NICE UPPER RIDGE IS CURRENTLY PRKOGGED FOR DRY AND WARMER...PLEASANT SPRINGLIKE CONDS. .HNX...NONE. LAVIS
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Mar 6, 2:42 PM PST, 4 hours 18 minutes before
CAZ089>097-070600- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 242 PM PST TUE MAR 6 2001 ...LATEST STORM BRINGS MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL TO THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA... AND THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS... THE LATEST IN A SERIES OF WINTER STORMS...WITH RAIN FROM SUNDAY THROUGH THIS MORNING...BROUGHT STORM TOTAL RAINFALLS IN EXCESS OF AN INCH TO SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA...AND THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS. SIGNIFICANT 48- HOUR RAINFALL AMOUNTS...FROM 10:00 AM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH 10:00 AM THIS MORNING...INCLUDED... IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY... COALINGA....................2.99 INCHES. AVENAL......................2.20 INCHES. CHOWCHILLA..................1.35 INCH. LOST HILLS..................1.17 INCH. MADERA AIRPORT..............1.11 INCH. CITY OF HANFORD.............1.06 INCH. HANFORD AIRPORT.............1.05 INCH. FRESNO YOSEMITE AIRPORT.....0.89 INCH. MERCED AIRPORT..............0.82 INCH. LEMOORE NAVAL AIR STATION...0.59 INCH. VISALIA AIRPORT.............0.39 INCH. BAKERSFIELD MEADOWS FIELD...0.11 INCH. IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA... OAKHURST....................2.02 INCH. YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK......1.78 INCH. IN THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS... FRAZIER PARK................6.10 INCH. PINEg MOUNTAIN...............4.05 INCH. SANGER
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
2 lightning, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flood, Kern
- When
- March 6, 7:00 PM PST to 8:30 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, Bakersfield
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Lightning, Kern
- When
- March 6, 7:50 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, 2 mi W of Bakersfield
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Lightning
- A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
- 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
- Storm Surge in Maine, March 6 to 7, 2001
- Storm Surge in New Hampshire, March 6 to 7, 2001
- Heavy Snow and High Wind in Virginia, March 6, 2001
- Strong Wind in Virginia, March 6 to 7, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Maine, March 6 to 31, 2001
- High Wind in North Carolina, March 6, 2001
- Strong Wind in Maryland, March 6 to 7, 2001
- Heavy Snow in New Hampshire, March 6 to 31, 2001
- High Wind in North Carolina, March 6, 2001
- Strong Wind in West Virginia, March 6 to 7, 2001
- Heavy Snow in North Carolina, March 6, 2001
- High Wind in North Carolina, March 6, 2001
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: 5237960, 5237962, 5237961.