1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 Apr 29, 8:30 AM PST, 20 minutes earlier.
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 930 AM PDT MON APR 29 2002 KHNX 88D CURRENTLY INDICATING PRE-FRONTAL PRECIPITATION SPREADING FROM THE CENTRAL CA COAST INTO THE CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AS WELL AS SOME UPSLOPE PRECIPITATION IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS NORTH OF KINGS CANYON. LOS BANOS OBSERVER CURRENTLY REPORTING LIGHT RAIN. KMUX AND KVBX INDICATING THE BACK EDGE OF THE PRECIPITATION CURRENTLY RUNS FROM ABOUT SAN JOSE TO MONTEREY AND EXTENDED SOUTHWEST OFF THE COAST. 12Z MESO SPREADS COLD FRONT AND THE PRECIPITATION AHEAD OF IT RAPIDLY ACROSS THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR TODAY WITH HIGHEST QPF/S ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES. PER COORDINATION WITH STO AND REV WILL INCREASE POPS ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES FOR TODAY. WILL ALSO BUMP UP SNOW AMOUNTS IN ZONE 96 AND ISSUE A SNOW ADVISORY BASED ON LATEST QPF PROGS INDICATING 3 TO 6 INCHES OF NEW SNOW ABOVE 7000 FEET TODAY...AND THE POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS FROM HEAVIER POST FRONTAL CONVECTIVE SHOWERS. THE TOP CONCERN THIS MORNING IS THE CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOLLOWING THE COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE TODAY. 12Z MESO INDICATING WIDESPREAD CAPES OF 100 TO 300 J/KG THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND THE SOUTHERN SIERRA FOOTHILLS. BEST INSTABILITY INDICATED BY PROJECTED LI/S OF -1 TO +2 ACROSS OUR NORTHERN AREAS SO AFTERNOON CONVECTION WILL BE MOST FAVORED ACROSS OUR NORTHERN ZONES. HOWEVER...STILL CANNOT RULE OUT AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM IN THE SOUTH VALLEY AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND CAPES WILL BE SUFFICIENT ENOUGH. WILL ISSUE A CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK SPS FOLLOWING THE ZONE UPDATE. ANOTHER CONCERN THIS MORNING IS THAT 12Z PROGS ARE INDICATING STRENGTHENING P-GRADS ACROSS EASTERN KERN COUNTY LATER TODAY. WITH POST FRONTAL SUBSIDENCE TONIGHT WINDS MIGHT REACH ADVISORY CRITERIA TONIGHT AND TUESDAY IN THE KERN MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. AVN PROMISING MORE SETTLED CONDITIONS ACROSS THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR BY THE END OF THE WEEK. .HNX...SNOW ADVISORY FOR ZONE 96 TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY. DS
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A late season frontal passage brought 8-12" of new snow to the highest elevations of the Southern Sierra Nevada on the 29th.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2002
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: 5289858.