Heavy Rain in California, April 1 to 30, 2003

Name: Heavy Rain in California, April 1 to 30, 2003
Start: 2003-04-01T00:00
End: 2003-04-30T23:59
Location: California

April 1 to 30, 2003 · NWS HNX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: $30 million
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.

April and the first half of May 2003 in the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley was marked by unusual and persistent cool, wet weather. Normally summer agricultural operations are in full swing by the 1st week in April. Despite a relatively dry November through March period for the area, the month of April was the 7th wettest with 2.84" of rain (2.08" above normal) since records began in Fresno in 1888 and the wettest since 1978 when 2.85" fell. The average temperature of 58.6F in Fresno for April was the coldest since 57.2F in 1976. Other sites in the San Joaquin Valley were similarly affected leading to the crop damage assessments. Cherries were the hardest hit in Fresno County; cotton planting was hurt the most in Madera County; and, alfalfa the worst in Kings County.

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 31, 8:55 PM PST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 31, 8:55 PM PST, 3 hours 5 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
855 PM PST MON MAR 31 2003

A COLD FRONT IS HEADED THIS WAY...AND IT WILL OPEN THE DOOR TO
A RATHER MOIST ZONAL FLOW PATTERN ACROSS CENTRAL CA DURING MID
TO LATE WEEK. THE FRONT SHOWS UP VERY WELL ON THE LATEST WATER
VAPOR IMAGERY...EXTENDING FROM THE PAC NW COAST SOUTHWESTWARD
TO ABOUT 33N 137W. THE FRONT IS ALSO BEING DRIVEN STEADILY
SOUTHEASTWARD BY A STRONG 120 KT JET THIS EVENING. SO ITS ARRIVAL
IN CENTRAL CA MAY BE MARKED BY MEASUREABLE PRECIP FARTHER SOUTH
THAN PREVIOUSLY FORECAST...FROM FRESNO CO NORTHWARD DURING THE
AFTN...THEN ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE CWA TUE EVENING.

THE 00Z MESO-ETA HAS NOT CHANGED ITS TUNE SINCE THE 18Z RUN AND
FORECASTS PRETTY HEALTHY DYNAMICS AND MOISTURE WITH THIS FRONT
SOUTHWARD INTO KERN COUNTY BY TUE EVENING. WHILE THE GFS SOLN
HAS NOT BEEN AS AGRESSIVE WITH THIS IDEA...THERE IS STILL
CONCERN THAT POPS MAY HAVE TO BE EXTENDED ACROSS THE SOUTHERN
PORTION OF OUR CWA...AND RAISED ELSEWHERE.  WILL MAKE MINOR
ADJUSTMENTS TO EVENING UPDATE BY ELIMINATING POP REFERENCES TO
NORTH OF KERN COUNTY WITH SLIGHT CHC POPS TUE NIGHT. OTHERWISE...
OROGRAPHICS LOOK FAVORABLE FOR GENEROUS PRECIP OVER THE SIERNEV
FROM LATE TUESDAY THRU MIDDAY WED. THE 00Z MESO-ETA GOES PRETTY WILD
WITH QPF OVER THE SIERRA NEVADA AND PRINTS OUT AROUND AN INCH TOTAL
OF LIQUID WATER FOR YOSEMITE...HUNTINGTON LAKE...AND GIANT FOREST BY
00Z THURSDAY. GIVEN HOW LOW SNOW LEVELS WILL GET IN THE WAKE OF THIS
COLD FRONT BY TUE NIGHT...SNOW ADVISORIES MAY NEED TO BE CONSIDERED
FOR ZNS 96 AND 97 WITH FUTURE FORECAST PKG. ADMITTEDLY...THERE DOES
NOT APPEAR TO BE MUCH OF A MOISTURE FETCH WITH THIS SYSTEM ON CURRENT
SATELLITE IMAGERY...SO IT WILL HAVE TO BE WATCHED AS DYNAMICS
COME TOGETHER DURING THE NEXT 24 HRS. OTHER CONCERN IS THAT OUR
SNOW LEVELS AND MAX TEMPS ON WED ARE A TAD HIGH IN OUR MTN ZONES
BASED ON THE 00Z MESO-ETA. THIS PARTICULAR MODEL PROJECTS 850 MB
TEMPS TO FALL JUST BELOW ZERO BY WED AM.

OTHERWISE...CURRENT FORECAST PKG LOOKS ON TRACK. A CHANGE TO MUCH
COOLER WEATHER IS HIGHLIGHTED ALONG WITH STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS IN
OUR KERN CO MTNS AND DESERT IN THE PERIODS AHEAD. SAY GOODBYE TO
SPRING FOR AWHILE...WINTER IS STAGING A COMEBACK.

.HNX...NONE.

DURFEE

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 31, 5:30 AM PST, 18 hours 30 minutes before

CAZ089>099-011345-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
530 AM PST MON MAR 31 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
INTERIOR.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Fresno

When: April 1, 12:00 AM PST to April 30, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Fresno County, Fresno
Crop damage: $7.8 million
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 36.758, -119.649 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Kings

When: April 1, 12:00 AM PST to April 30, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Kings County, Hanford
Crop damage: $8.9 million
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 36.075, -119.815 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Madera

When: April 1, 12:00 AM PST to April 30, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Madera County, Madera
Crop damage: $13 million
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 37.218, -119.763 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in California, April 2003

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: 5350581, 5350582, 5350583.