Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2003

Name: Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2003
Start: 2003-01-01T00:00
End: 2003-01-31T23:59
Location: California

January 1 to 31, 2003 · NWS HNX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

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.

Rainfall for the month of January was much below normal for Interior Central California as well as much of the state of California. The rainfall for this critical rain/snowfall month was only 58% of normal over the northern portion of the state. In the center portion of the state, Fresno received only 0.40" thereby ending 1.76" below normal for the month (19% of normal). Bakersfield had only 0.01" of rain and that was 1.17" below its normal. Comparable poor amounts of rain/snow were received in the adjacent mountains for water storage for the upcoming summer.

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 Dec 31, 10:00 PM PST, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 10:00 PM PST, 2 hours before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
1000 PM PST TUE DEC 31 2002

SATELLITE AND REGIONAL DOPPLER RADAR ANALYSIS SHOWING THE CWFA
DRYING OUT FROM THIS MORNING/S STORM SYSTEM. A FEW SHOWERS OVER THE
MOUNTAINS HAVE FINALLY DISSIPATED WITH ONLY HIGHER CLOUDS REMAINING
OVER MUCH OF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. THIS MORNING/S STORM SYSTEM
PUSHING INTO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS ALLOWING HEIGHTS TO BUILD OVER THE
WEST COAST. UPPER FLOW BECOMING MORE NORTHWESTERLY...WHICH MEANS
RIDGING JUST OFF SHORE. THIS RIDGING WILL STEER THE NEXT APPROACHING
STORM INTO SOUTHERN OREGON/NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THEREFORE...WILL
ONLY EXPECT CLOUDS TO STREAM ACROSS THE DISTRICT.

FOG WILL BE A PROBLEM OVERNIGHT. THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY SATURATED
BUT THE AMOUNT OF POSSIBLE CLOUD COVER OVERNIGHT AND CONTINUED WIND
MIXING WILL BE A FACTOR. MODELS SHOW MORE CLOUDS PUSHING THROUGH
OVERNIGHT WHICH WILL INHIBIT THE FORMATION OF DENSE FOG. PROFILER
DATA AT LOST HILLS AND RAWS OBSERVATION AT KETTLEMAN HILLS SHOWING
10 TO 20 MPH BELOW 1000 FEET. THEREFORE...WILL KEEP WORD OF PATCH
FOG AND NOT MENTION ANY DENSE WORDING. YET...THE LACK OF GOOD FOG
FORMATION WILL MEAN THAT MIN TEMPERATURES TONIGHT WILL CONTINUE TO
DROP BELOW FORECASTED VALUES. WILL LOWER OVERNIGHT LOWS BY A FEW
DEGREES BELOW CURRENT DEW POINT VALUES AS VALLEY LOWS WILL REACH
THE MID TO UPPER 30S. THE NORMALLY COLD SPOTS IN THE VALLEY MAY EVEN
SEE ISOLATED FROST BY MORNING. YET...CLOUDS AND WINDS WILL KEEP
FROST AMOUNTS TO BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA. OTHERWISE...WILL UPDATE
FOR TEMPERATURES IN THE VALLEY...TO REMOVE MENTION OF SHOWERS...AND
DECREASE THE AMOUNT OF CLOUDS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT.

.HNX...NONE.

MOLINA

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 31, 5:58 AM PST, 18 hours 2 minutes before

CAZ089>099-011400-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
558 AM PST TUE DEC 31 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
INTERIOR.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

A STRONG...FAST MOVING COLD FRONT SPREAD HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY
WINDS ACROSS THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON.
THE FRONTAL PASSAGE COMBINED WITH A STRONG LOW LEVEL JET
STREAM WILL CREATE STRONG WINDS OVER THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS
TODAY.

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA
FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON THIS MORNING. (WWUS46 KHNX)

A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS TODAY.
(WWUS76 KHNX)

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

PATCHY DENSE FOG WILL DEVELOP OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN
JOAQUIN VALLEY FOR THE START OF THE NEW YEAR THROUGH MONDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

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

KB

Event by event

3 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, E Central S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: E Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: METEOROLOGIST(NON NWS)

Drought, S Sierra Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: METEOROLOGIST(NON NWS)

Drought, Se S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: METEOROLOGIST(NON NWS)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

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, January 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: 5341866, 5341867, 5341868.