Flooding in California, January 2, 2002

Name: Flooding in California, January 2, 2002
Start: 2002-01-02T07:00
End: 2002-01-02T23:45
Location: California

January 2, 2002 · NWS EKA · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Flooding on the Garcia River closed sections of State Highway 1 and flooding on the Navarro River closed a portion of State Route 175.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

Flooding on the Garcia River closed sections of State Highway 1 and flooding on the Navarro River closed a portion of State Route 175.

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 Jan 2, 2:30 AM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 2, 2:30 AM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
230 AM PST WED JAN 2 2002

COLD FRONT PUSHING ONSHORE AT THIS TIME N CA COAST. PRES GRADIENT
WEAKENING AND WINDS ON THE DECREASE. RADAR SHOWS OVERALL INTENSITY
OF PRECIP DECREASING AS AREA OF STRONG WARM ADVECTION SHIFTS TO EAST
OF FCST AREA. STILL QUITE A BIT OF SHOWER ACTIVITY...SOME OCNL HEAVY
RAINS FAR SE PORTION OF AREA...BUT RADAR FAILING TO PICK UP MOST OF
THIS...AND LATEST OBS ALONG WITH IR SAT LOOP SUPPORT HEAVIER RAINS
MOVING E OUT OF FCST AREA. FOR NOW...WILL GO WITH LIKELY POPS FOR
SHOWERS...THOUGH MAY UP THIS TO CATEGORICAL IF WARRENTED BASED ON
LATEST RADAR TRENDS. UPPER TROUGH WILL SHIFT THROUGH TODAY AND A
RELATIVELY WEAK SHORT WAVE WILL CLIP NORTHERN ZONES TONIGHT SO WILL
KEEP CHANCE POPS FOR AFFECTED ZONES. OTHERWISE...SHOWER ACTIVITY
SHOULD TAPER OFF OR END THIS EVENING SOUTHERN ZONES. FREEZING LEVELS
AT THIS POINT STILL HIGH...BUT WILL LOWER TODAY AS COOLER AIR ALOFT
FILTERS IN BEHIND THE FRONT. SNOW LEVELS WILL NOT DROP TOO
DRAMATICALLY THOUGH...DOWN TO AROUND 5500 FT BY AFTERNOON...THEN
DOWN TO AROUND 4000 FT OVERNIGHT. LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ACCUMULATIONS
EXPECTED HOWEVER AS MAIN ENERGY AND LIFT REMAIN NORTH.

JUST RECEIVED NEW GUIDANCE FROM RFC...WHICH BUMPS SOME RIVER LEVELS
UP A BIT OVER CURRENT FORECASTS...MAINLY NAVARRO RIVER AT NAVORRO
AND EEL RIVER AT FERNBRIDGE...SO WILL UPDATE FLW.

FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...MODELS SEEM CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS RUNS
IN BUILDING IN SFC RIDGE ACROSS AREA ALONG WITH WEAK UPPER LEVEL
RIDGE...WHICH SHOULD ALLOW SOME DRYING OUT. NEXT SYSTEM EXPECTED BY
EARLY SAT...A LITTLE SLOWER THAN PREVIOUS MODELS SO HAVE HELD OFF ON
NEXT MENTION OF PRECIP CHANCES TILL THEN. LORENS

CEC 64200 EKA/ACV 63200 UKI 73000

.EKA...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY PT ST GEORGE TO PT ARENA 0-60NM.
    ...FLOOD ADVISORY THROUGH EARLY MORNING CAZ001>003-076.
    ...FLOOD WARNING FOR NAVARRO RIVER AT NAVARRO.
    ...HEAVY SURF ADVISORY FOR REDWOOD COAST.

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Mendocino Coast

When: January 2, 7:00 AM PST to 11:45 PM PST
Where: Mendocino Coast forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

Flood, Mendocino Interior

When: January 2, 7:00 AM PST to 11:45 PM PST
Where: Mendocino Interior forecast zone
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

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

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, January 2002

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: 5279619, 5279620.