Heavy Rain, Kern
- When
- August 25, 3:30 PM PST to 4:54 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, 20 mi E of Lake Isabella
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood and Heavy Rain in California, August 25, 2003
With continued monsoonal influences over the Kern Deserts and Mountains, rain amounts during the month of August were often relatively heavy. Several instances of concern for local flooding from small streams in the mountains and deserts occurred, including radar reports of heavy rain on the 25th.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
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.
With continued monsoonal influences over the Kern Deserts and Mountains, rain amounts during the month of August were often relatively heavy. Several instances of concern for local flooding from small streams in the mountains and deserts occurred, including radar reports of heavy rain on the 25th. Sequoia National Forest reported road closures at Johnsondale, and Sherman Pass Road on the Kern Plateau in the Southern Sierra Nevada. Rain amounts at reporting stations from late on the 25th into the 26th: 1.68" at Cottonwood Creek in the S.Sierra Nevada Mountains northeast of Fresno; 1.48" at Lost Hills on the San Joaquin Valley Floor WNW of Bakersfield; and 1.30" at Agnew Pass north of Fresno in the mountains.
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 Aug 25, 1:00 PM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 25, 1:00 PM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 200 PM PDT MON AUG 25 2003 VISIBLE SATELLITE AND DOPPLER RADAR ANALYSIS IS SHOWING GOOD CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THE CREST OF THE MOUNTAIN RANGES. AS OF YET...BETTER CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OVER THE SOUTHERN END OF THE DISTRICT...MAINLY KERN AND TULARE...WITH MINIMAL CONVECTION TOWARDS YOSEMITE. FORECAST TREND OF INCREASING DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS YOSEMITE THIS EVENING WITH MORE OF THE MOUNTAINS COVERED OVERNIGHT INTO TUESDAY STILL ON TRACK. WITH THUNDERSTORMS BECOMING MORE WIDE SPREAD OVER THE DISTRICT COVERED TODAY...STEERING CURRENT OF A SOUTHEASTERLY DIRECTION NOW DOMINATING THE REGION WITH MONSOONAL MOISTURE MAKING A BETTER SURGE NORTHWARD. WILL THEREFORE CONTINUE THE PRECIP OVER THE MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AND START POSSIBLE SHOWERS OVER THE VALLEY TOWARDS TUESDAY MORNING. LATEST MODEL RUN SHOWING LAYER PRECIP WATER/PW/ SURGING NORTH INTO THE VALLEY AND MORE IF THE DISTRICT OVERNIGHT. MODEL CROSS SECTIONS SHOWING A DEEPER MOISTURE OVER MUCH OF THE DISTRICT BY TUESDAY WITH BETTER CHANCES OF RECEIVING SOME FORM OF PRECIP. MODEL LI/S AND CAPE REMAIN MINIMAL DURING THIS EVENT WITH BETTER CAPE VALUES MAINLY EAST AND SOUTH OF THE DISTRICT. NEGATIVE LI VALUES REMAIN OVER MOUNTAIN CREST OF BOTH THE SIERRA AND COASTAL RANGES DURING THIS EVENT...YET...WILL MENTION SLIGHT CHANCES OVER THE VALLEY ON TUESDAY AS DEEP MOISTURE WILL HAVE NO PROBLEM PROVIDING MINIMAL PRECIP. BY WEDNESDAY AND INTO THURSDAY...A SHORT-WAVE TROF THAT HAS BEEN ALMOST STATIONARY OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST WILL FINALLY LIFT NORTHEAST THROUGH THE REGION. THIS MOVEMENT WILL ALLOW THE UPPER FLOW TO RETURN TO A SOUTHWESTERLY DIRECTION AND HELP DIMINISH THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS. CURRENT TIMING IS TO SWITCH THE FLOW TO THE SOUTHWEST EARLY WEDNESDAY AND TERMINATE THE SHOWERS DURING THE SAME TIME. TO THE SOUTH OF THE DISTRICT...THE FLOW WITH WEAKEN BUT SHOW SOME SIGNS OF A SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST COMPONENT. YET...OVER THE DISTRICT...THE SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL DOMINATE AND PREVENT ANY FURTHER CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT. THURSDAY WILL REMAIN DRY. AFTER A BIT OF COOLING DUE TO CLOUD COVER FROM CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY ON TUESDAY... TEMPERATURE WILL RECOVER BACK INTO A SLOW WARMING TREND GOING INTO THE EXTENDED. FOR THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD...FRI THRU MON...THE WEATHER DURING MUCH OF THE 4-7 DAY PERIOD IS HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON THE TRACK OF IGNACIO. THE CONSENSUS OF THE LATEST GLOBAL MODELS IS FORECASTING IGNACIO TO TAKE A LEFT TURN...CROSS THE BAJA PENINSULA...AND DRIFT WESTWARD INTO THE PACIFIC. THIS SEEMS LIKE A PLAUSIBLE SOLUTION SINCE THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL BE BRIDGED FROM THE COASTAL WATERS OF SOUTHERN CA TO THE FOUR CORNERS REGION LATE IN THE WEEK. CONSEQUENTLY...THE NATIONAL HURCN CENTER HAS FACTORED IN THE GLOBAL MODEL SOLUTIONS AND IS NOW FORECASTING IGNACIO TO TRACK A BIT FARTHER WEST THAN EARLIER PREDICTIONS. IF THIS TREND CONTINUES...IGNACIO WOULD BE IN A FAVORABLE POSITION THIS WEEKEND FOR SOME OF ITS MOISTURE TO GET DRAWN NORTHEASTWARD INTO CA AHEAD OF AN OFFSHORE TROUGH. HOWEVER...A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE IN TIMING AND POSITION OF THIS TROUGH AND THE TRACK OF IGNACIO COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING. WITH SUCH UNCERTAINTY AND LOW CONFIDENCE IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD...WILL LEAVE THE 4-7 DAY FORECAST DRY FOR NOW. ADDITIONALLY...INFLUENCE OF WEST COAST TROUGH LIKELY TO BRING A COOLING TREND BY SUN OR MON. .HNX...NONE. MOLINA/DURFEE
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 25, 4:30 AM PST, 11 hours before
CAZ089>099-261230- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 530 AM PDT MON AUG 25 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR EVENING THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...THE SIERRA NEVADA FOOTHILLS AND THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON. THERE IS A CHANCE FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE KERN AND TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS AS WELL AS THE SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT. DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST TUESDAY FOR...THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND THE SIERRA NEVADA FOOTHILLS. A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN THE FORECAST TUESDAY FOR...THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS...THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON...THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND THE SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT. AND ON WEDNESDAY A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECASTED FOR...THE SIERRA NEVADA FOOTHILLS...THE KERN AND TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS...THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON AND THE SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT. .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.
Event by event
1 heavy rain, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flood, S Sierra Mtns
- When
- August 25, 4:00 PM PST to 6:00 PM PST
- Where
- S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
- Reported by
- PARK/FOREST SERVICE
What these are
- Heavy Rain
- Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
- 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
- Heat in Illinois, August 25 to 26, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, August 25 to 26, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, August 25, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 25, 2003
- Tornado and Hail in Minnesota, August 25, 2003
- Damaging Winds in Michigan, August 25, 2003
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Arizona, August 25, 2003
- Wildfire in California, August 25 to 31, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Iowa, August 25, 2003
- Flash Flood in California, August 25, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Michigan, August 25 to 26, 2003
- Damaging Wind in California, August 25, 2003
More
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, August 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: 5333442, 5333443.