Name: High Wind in California, March 24, 2002
Start: 2002-03-24T04:48
End: 2002-03-24T16:00
Location: California

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.

Windy conditions again prevailed in the Kern Mountains and Deserts on the 24th. Jawbone Canyon reported northwest wind gusts to 51 MPH, Mojave Airport gusts to 52 MPH, and Indian Well Canyon had gusts to 54 MPH.

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 23, 9:00 PM PST, 7 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 23, 9:00 PM PST, 7 hours 48 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
900 PM PST SAT MAR 23 2002

WEAK VORT EMBEDDED WITHIN UPPER TROF WAS SUSTAINING SHOWERS AS IT
PUSHES INTO WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA THIS EVE...AND DYNAMICS WILL
REMAIN SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL UNTIL AXIS
SHIFTS EAST. HOWEVER LOSS OF SURFACE HEATING HAS BROUGHT AN END TO
DEEPER CONVECTION AND TSTMS HAVE DISSIPATED. ALTHOUGH SOME RETURNS
ARE EVIDENT ON KMUX 88D...VORT AXIS SHOULD SHIFT EAST OF THE SIERRA
BTWN 06-08Z AND WV PICS SHOW SOME DRIER AIR PUSHING INTO MRY COUNTY.
SECONDARY VORT MAX NEAR 42N/129W WAS MOVING SE AT AROUND 35 KTS AND
SHOULD APPROACH SFO AROUND 12Z...HOWEVER 00Z PROGS INDICATE BULK OF
DYNAMICS REMAINING NW OF THE CWA OVERNIGHT. DIMINISHING TREND IN
PCPN SHOULD THEREFORE SLOWLY CONT THRU THE NIGHT AND WILL MAKE SOME
WORDING ADJUSTMENTS IN ZONES. ALTHOUGH FLOW ALOFT HAS VEERED NW AND
OROGRAPHICS WILL CONT TO DECREASE...WILL MAINTAIN SNOW ADVISORIES
FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AS ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL REMAINS A
POSSIBILITY. WILL ALSO TWEAK SNOW LEVELS DOWNWARD SLIGHTLY FOR THE
KERN MTNS AS 00Z KVBG RAOB SHOWED FREEZING LEVELS AROUND 7K...AND
TEMPS NEAR 5K HAVE ALREADY FALLEN INTO THE UPPER 30S.

.HNX...SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FROM
       YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON ABOVE 5000 FEET TONIGHT.
    ...SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS ABOVE
       6000 FEET TONIGHT.

JSN

Event by event

3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: March 24, 4:48 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Indian Wells Vly

When: March 24, 5:13 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST
Where: Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

High Wind, Kern Cty Mtns

When: March 24, 7:53 AM PST to 4:00 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, March 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: 5287319, 5287317, 5287318.