Heavy Rain, Kern
- When
- February 11, 7:30 AM PST to February 12, 9:00 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, Grape Vine
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood and Heavy Rain in California, February 11 to 12, 2003
Significant rain amounts fell in the Tehachapi Mountains leading to runoff onto the Southern San Joaquin Valley floor around the Grapevine and Mettler. 91 inches for the day at Visalia in Tulare County.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 4
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.
Significant rain amounts fell in the Tehachapi Mountains leading to runoff onto the Southern San Joaquin Valley floor around the Grapevine and Mettler. Furthermore, rain on the 12th resulted in street flooding in the South Valley town of Lamont with record rainfall of 0.91 inches for the day at Visalia in Tulare County. Mud slides were reported on the Grapevine just before 10 AM on the 12th due to the heavy rain. Mojave and Rosamond in the Kern County Desert had substantial sheet flow from the steady rain. Rock falls were reported on Highway 178 as it wound through the Kern River Canyon. In Sand Canyon near Tehachapi flooding forced the rescue of a motorist trapped by high water.
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 Feb 11, 4:05 AM PST, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 11, 4:05 AM PST, 3 hours 25 minutes before
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 405 AM PST TUE FEB 11 2003 THE WEATHER PATTERN IS EVOLVING A BIT FASTER THAN EXPECTED THIS MORNING...AS THE UPPER-LEVEL LOW SPINS A FETCH OF MID- AND HIGH- LEVEL SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. LIGHT RAIN HAS ALREADY MOVED ONSHORE OVER THE SOUTHLAND AND THE SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST...AND INLAND AS FAR AS SANDBERG. WILL ADJUST THE GRIDS TO GIVE THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS CHANCE POPS THIS MORNING...WITH CHANCE TO SLIGHT CHANCE POPS OVER ALL THE MOUNTAIN AND DESERT ZONES BY THIS AFTERNOON. SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW THE UPPER-LEVEL LOW CENTERED NEAR 27N/128W... SLOWLY MOVING EAST. THE 00Z ETA/NGM AND 06Z GFS HOLD ON TO THE REXX BLOCK A BIT TOO LONG...AND CONSEQUENTLY ARE SLOW IN MOVING THE LOW FROM ITS FORMER BLOCKING POSITION. THE MODELS ARE IN AGREEMENT WITH THE LOW LIFTING NORTHEAST AND OPENING INTO A TROUGH BY WEDNESDAY MORNING...BUT TIMING DIFFERENCES DEVELOP BETWEEN THE 00Z ETA AND 06Z GFS AFTER 18Z WEDNESDAY...WITH THE GFS MOVING THE TROUGH ONSHORE FASTER. THE 06Z MESO-ETA BRINGS THE 850-700-MB MOISTURE AS FAR NORTH AS BAKERSFIELD BY 15Z THIS MORNING...WITH AN IMPRESSIVE +55 VORTICITY MAXIMUM OVER THE SOUTH END OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. HOWEVER...THE OMEGA OVER THE SOUTH END IS NEGATIVE...WITH A -12 MICROBAR/SECOND CENTER AT 850 MB...INDICATING SUBSIDENCE IN THE LOWER LEVELS. THIS MAY BE ENOUGH TO SQUEEZE OUT A SPRINKLE OR TWO THIS MORNING...SO WILL GIVE THE SOUTH END SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR FIRST PERIOD. SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW A FAIRLY SHARP BACK EDGE TO THE CLOUD BAND SPINNING AROUND THE LOW...SO COULD SEE SOME CLEARING OVER THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON. THE MAIN PRECIPITATION EVENT WILL BEGIN TONIGHT AS THE LOW APPROACHES THE COAST AND DEEPER SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE CONTINUES TO STREAM INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. EXPECT THE LOWEST LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE TO MOISTEN THROUGH THE DAY TODAY... WITH RAIN SPREADING OVER THE ENTIRE HANFORD WARNING/FORECAST AREA BY WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE GFS HAS BEEN BACKING OFF ON QPF/S WITH EACH RUN...BUT CONTINUES TO FORECAST TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE HALF TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH. THE ETA...WHICH PREVIOUSLY HAD BEEN SLOWER TO BRING RAIN TO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA...HAS BECOME THE WETTER MODEL WITH ITS LATEST RUN. THUS...THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY IS ON TRACK TO ITS FIRST SIGNIFICANT RAIN EVENT SINCE JANUARY 10TH. THE RAIN WILL CHANGE TO SHOWERS THURSDAY AS THE TROUGH MOVES THROUGH. SNOW LEVEL WILL REMAIN HIGH DUE TO THE SUBTROPICAL NATURE OF THE MOISTURE...AND WILL KEEP ABOVE 6500 FEET NEAR YOSEMITE AND ABOVE 7500 FEET IN THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS. THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS COULD SEE TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO 8 INCHES OF NEW SNOW BEFORE THE EVENT IS OVER. DO NOT PLAN TO ISSUE ANY WINTER WEATHER PRODUCTS AT THIS TIME AS THE EXPECTED DAILY SNOWFALL RATES SHOULD REMAIN BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA. IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY...A FEW SHOWERS WILL LINGER INTO FRIDAY MORNING AS THE LOW MOVES EAST OF THE REGION. THE RIDGE REBUILDS OVER THE AREA FRIDAY AFTERNOON THEN QUICKLY SHIFTS EASTWARD BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON AS THE NEXT TROF APPROACHES. MODELS IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE TROUGH...MOVING IT INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SUNDAY AND DAMPENING THE WAVE OUT AS IT MOVES INLAND. WILL PUT CHANCE POPS BACK INTO SUNDAY...ENDING THE PRECIP BY NOON MONDAY. BEST CHANCE OF PRECIP IN THAT TIME FRAME WILL BE OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE CWFA. .HNX...NONE. SANGER/BEAN
Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 11, 4:30 AM PST, 3 hours before
CAZ089>099-121030- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 430 AM PST TUE FEB 11 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...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY RAIN SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE AREA BY EARLY WEDNESDAY...BUT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .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
3 heavy rain, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy Rain, Kern
- When
- February 11, 7:30 AM PST to February 12, 9:00 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, Lamont
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy Rain, Tulare
- When
- February 12, 5:00 AM PST to 5:00 PM PST
- Where
- Tulare County, Visalia
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 36.220, -118.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood, Kern Cty Mtns
- When
- February 12, 9:43 AM PST to 11:59 PM PST
- Where
- Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Reported by
- GOVT OFFICIAL
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
- Flooding in California, February 11 to 14, 2003
- High Wind in Iowa, February 11, 2003
- Flood in California, February 11, 2003
- Blizzard in Minnesota, February 11, 2003
- Blizzard in North Dakota, February 11, 2003
- Blizzard in Minnesota, February 11, 2003
- High Wind in Minnesota, February 11, 2003
- High Wind in Iowa, February 11, 2003
- High Wind in Iowa, February 11, 2003
- Winter Storm in Michigan, February 11 to 12, 2003
- Heavy Snow in Michigan, February 11 to 12, 2003
- High Wind in Illinois, February 11, 2003
More
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 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: 5342707, 5342708, 5342710, 5342709.