1 winter storm, 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 Dec 30, 3:25 PM PST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
325 PM PST MON DEC 30 2002
WARM-SECTOR RAIN HAS SPREAD AS FAR SOUTH AS HANFORD THIS AFTERNOON.
TIMING IS IN BETTER AGREEMENT WITH THE 12Z/18Z GFS FORECAST THAN THE
18Z MESO-ETA. EXPECT RAIN TO REACH TO REACH YOSEMITE BY 00Z...AND
SPREAD OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE REGION...NORTH OF KERN COUNTY...BY
04Z...AND INTO BAKERSFIELD BETWEEN 06-09Z.
LATEST RAWS DATA FROM THE SIERRA NEVADA NEAR YOSEMITE SHOWS
TEMPERATURES STILL ABOVE FREEZING AROUND 9000 FEET...BUT EXPECT SNOW
LEVEL TO BE AROUND 7000 FEET BY THE TIME SNOW MOVES INTO THE
MOUNTAINS.
SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW THE WARM FRONTAL BAND APPROACHING THE SAN
FRANCISCO BAY AREA...WITH THE COLD FRONT BEHIND IT AT AROUND 126W..
THE 12Z DUAL- WAVE GFS SOLUTION WAS MOSTLY ON TRACK...WITH THE
WEAKER WAVE REPRESENTING THE WARM FRONT...AND THE DEEPER TRAILING
WAVE BEING THE COLD FRONT.
CONCERNING SNOW LEVELS...THE GFS FORECASTS 700-MB TEMPERATURES OVER
YOSEMITE AT 00Z TUESDAY TO BE -3 C...WITH 1000-500-MB THICKNESSES AT
5510 METERS. THIS WOULD PLACE THE SNOW LEVEL INITIALLY BETWEEN 6000
AND 7000 FEET. BY 12Z TUESDAY...700-MB TEMPERATURES FALL TO -6 C...
AND THICKNESSES DROP TO 5430 METERS...FOR A SNOW LEVEL OF 4500-5500
FEET OVER YOSEMITE. SNOW LEVELS RISE BY ABOUT 1000 FEET SOUTHWARD
INTO THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS. THE COLDEST 700-MB AIR...WITH A
TEMPERATURE OF -10 C...MOVES OVER YOSEMITE BETWEEN 18-24Z TUESDAY
WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE COLD FRONT.
THE 12Z MESO-ETA IS A DEGREE WARMER AT 700-MB AT 00Z TUESDAY...WITH
SIMILAR THICKNESSES. HOWEVER...THE MESO-ETA BRINGS COLDER AIR IN
OVERNIGHT...WITH 700-MB TEMPERATURES FORECAST TO FALL TO -8 C AT 12Z
TUESDAY. THE SNOW LEVELS DERIVED FROM THE MESO-ETA 700-MB
TEMPERATURES ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THOSE COMPUTED FROM
1000-500-MB THICKNESSES...AND CORRESPOND TO THE LOWER END OF THE
RANGE FORECAST BY THE GFS. THE MESO-ETA DOES MOVE THE COLDEST AIR
THROUGH THE REGION QUICKER...BETWEEN 12-18Z TUESDAY...WITH 700-MB
TEMPERATURES BOTTOMING OUT AT -9 C...A DEGREE WARMER THAN THE GFS.
IN COORDINATION WITH ADJACENT OFFICES...WILL GO WITH A SNOW LEVEL
NEAR YOSEMITE INITIALLY AT 7000 FEET THIS EVENING...PLUNGING TO 4500
FEET BY DAYBREAK. THE MODELS FORECAST SHARP TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
SOUTHWARD...WITH SNOW LEVELS 500-1000 FEET HIGHER IN TULARE
COUNTY...AND ANOTHER 1000 FEET HIGHER IN THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS.
THE 12Z MODEL QPF/S HAVE GOOD CONTINUITY WITH SUNDAY/S 12Z RUNS...
WITH THE GFS STILL FORECASTING ABOUT 3/4 INCH TOTAL AT YOSEMITE...
AND THE ETA FORECASTING 2 INCHES. WITH SNOW LEVELS DOWN TO AROUND
4500 FEET WHEN THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION MOVES THROUGH WITH COLD
FRONTAL PASSAGE...SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS REMAIN LIKELY DOWN
TO 5000 FEET. THE WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TONIGHT REMAINS ON TRACK.
PRECIPITATION WILL END FROM THE SOUTH DURING THE DAY TUESDAY...WITH
SHOWERS MAINLY OVER THE CENTRAL SIERRA NEVADA IN THE AFTERNOON. AN
UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WILL BUILD INTO CALIFORNIA BEHIND THE TROUGH...
WITH 850-MB TEMPERATURES FORECAST TO WARM AS MUCH AS 6.5 C
WEDNESDAY...AND ANOTHER 1.5 C THURSDAY. WITH A RIDGE ALOFT AND
SURFACE MOISTURE...EXPECT MORE VALLEY FOG WEDNESDAY...AND ESPECIALLY
THURSDAY MORNINGS. THIS WILL KEEP THE VALLEY FROM WARMING AS QUICKLY
AS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS. SANGER
IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST...GREAT AGREEMENT IN MEDIUM RANGE. H5 ZONAL
FLOW BECOMES HOST TO MOISTURE ON LATE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...BUT WILL
NOT AFFECT HNX CWA OTHER THAN CLOUDS. WILL BUMP UP SKY COVER GRIDS
FRIDAY TO BE CLOUDY KFAT NORTH...PC KBFL AREA...AND MOSTLY CLOUDY IN
BETWEEN. H5 RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILDS IN CWA FROM SW ON SAT AND WILL
WORK TO CLEAR SKIES BY SUNDAY. THIS MEANS WARMING TEMPS EXCEPT FOR
AREAS AFFECTED BY FOG. CENTRAL VALLEY SHOULD BE SOCKED IN ON
MONDAY...THEREFORE HAVE DROPPED TEMPS DESPITE RISING HEIGHTS THROUGH
THAT PERIOD. TEMPS ELSEWHERE SHOULD BE WELL ABOVE SEASONAL EARLY
PART OF NEXT WEEK WITH SUCH HIGH HEIGHTS.
SOWKO
.HNX...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA...
FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON.CAZ089>099-311400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 601 AM PST MON DEC 30 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON TONIGHT. (WWUS46 KHNX) ANOTHER IN A SERIES OF PACIFIC STORMS WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...SPREADING SNOW SOUTHWARD DOWN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF TO SCATTERED SHOWERS ON TUESDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY PATCHY DENSE FOG WILL DEVELOP OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY FOR THE START OF THE NEW YEAR THROUGH SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. KB
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
New Snow totals in the Southern Sierra Nevada from Yosemite south through Fresno County included: Bishop Pass and Paradise Meadows with 24", Agnew Pass 18", Gin Flat 15", Kaiser Point 13", Tenaya Lake 12", and Shaver Lake 9".
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, December 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: 5324737.