California, 2002

Dust Storm in California, May 19, 2002

May 19, 2002 · NWS HNX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

In the late afternoon and early evening hours of the 19th, gusty wind raised dust on the Southern San Joaquin Valley floor to the extent that visibilities were reduced to 200 feet on South Valley roads with many area visibilities at or below 1/2 mile. Meadows Field at Bakersfield reported wind to 31 MPH with vertical visibility limited to just 900 feet due to the blowing dust.

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 HNX wrote it up.

In the late afternoon and early evening hours of the 19th, gusty wind raised dust on the Southern San Joaquin Valley floor to the extent that visibilities were reduced to 200 feet on South Valley roads with many area visibilities at or below 1/2 mile. Meadows Field at Bakersfield reported wind to 31 MPH with vertical visibility limited to just 900 feet due to the blowing dust. While the wind was from the northwest in the vicinity of Bakersfield, other locations in the Central Valley reported wind from the southeast. The blowing dust was limited primarily to the Kern County portion of the San Joaquin Valley floor.

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 May 19, 1:00 PM PST, 5 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 19, 1:00 PM PST, 5 hours before
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
200 PM PDT SUN MAY 19 2002

UPPER LOW OFF THE WEST COAST ALONG 130W. UPPER LOW AXIS PROGGED TO
MOVE INLAND ACROSS CENTRAL CA NEAR 00Z TUE. BAROCLINIC BAND PRECIP
AHEAD OF THE LOW ALREADY INTO THE BAY AREA. THIS WILL SPREAD A
LITTLE FARTHER EAST TONIGHT...MAINLY FROM FRESNO CO NORTH. AS THE
LOW GETS CLOSER TOMORROW...FAVORABLE JET POSITION...HIGH CAPES ON
THE ORDER OF 300-1000...AND 5H TEMPS OF -26C WILL TRIGGER SCATTERED
CONVECTION JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE...ESPECIALLY THE SJV AND ADJACENT
SIERRA FOOTHILLS. MAIN THREAT TOMORROW FROM T-STORMS WILL BE HAIL
AND LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS. WINDS TOMORROW AFTERNOON WILL BECOME QUITE
GUSTY IN THE KERN MTNS/DESERTS...AS UPPER FLOW BECOMES MORE ALIGNED
WITH SURFACE GRADS. WILL WORD WINDS IN THESE AREAS ON THE HIGH SIDE
OF ADVISORY CRITERIA...AS MODEL GUIDANCE MAY NOT BE STRONG ENOUGH ON
SPEEDS. IN ADDITION...18Z MESO ETA SHOWS ONSHORE GRADS INTO THE
DESERTS INCREASING TO NEAR 14 MBS BY 00Z. THE UPPER LOW WEAKENS AND
PULLS NE TUES NITE...WITH A DRIER NW FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPING OVER
NITE. THUS WILL SEE PRECIP CHANCES WIND DOWN...WITH JUST A FEW
RESIDUAL CHANCES IN THE MTNS TUES MORNING. OTHERWISE...SHOULD SEE
DECREASING CLOUDS MOST AREAS...BUT REMAINING UNSEASONABLY COOL AS
HEIGHTS ARE SLOW TO RECOVER.

SNOW AMOUNTS IN THE MTNS WILL VARY CONSIDERABLY DUE TO THE
CONVECTIVE NATURE OF THE PRECIP MON AND MON NITE. HOWEVER...IN
GENERAL...TOTALS COULD RANGE FROM 6-8 INCHES ABOVE 6K FROM YOSEMITE
TO KINGS CANYON...2-5 INCHES TULARE CO...AND AN INCH OR TWO ABOVE 7K
IN THE TEHACHAPIS. AT THIS TIME...SNOW IS NOT EXPECTED ON ANY OF THE
KERN PASSES...ALTHOUGH HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH THUNDERSTORMS.

IN THE EXTENDED...HEIGHTS TO SLOWLY BUILD REMAINDER OF THE WEEK WITH
TEMPS RETURNING TO NORMAL BY WEEKS END.  FAT 5770 BFL 0440 YNP 6993
BINGHAM

.HNX...WINTER STORM WATCH MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT FOR THE SOUTHERN
       SIERRA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 19, 2:30 PM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes before
CAZ089>099-201100-

CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
330 PM PDT SUN MAY 19 2002

AN UNSEASONABLY COLD LOW PRESSURE AREA WILL MOVE ACROSS CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ENOUGH MOISTURE AND
INSTABILITY WILL BE PRESENT TO TRIGGER A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
THE REGION...ESPECIALLY IN THE AFTERNOON.

SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTAIN HAIL...AND PRODUCE LOCALLY
GUSTY WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN.

PERSONS WITH OUTDOOR PLANS SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR LOCAL CONDITIONS.
BE PREPARED TO SEEK SHELTER IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

BINGHAM

Event by event

2 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Dust Storm, Sw S.J. Valley

When
May 19, 6:00 PM PST to 10:00 PM PST
Where
Sw S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT

Dust Storm, Se S.J. Valley

When
May 19, 6:00 PM PST to 10:00 PM PST
Where
Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT

What these are

Dust Storm
Blowing dust that reduced visibility to a quarter mile or less.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 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: 5291624, 5291625.