1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 8, 2:20 AM PST, 10 minutes earlier.
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SERVICE HANFORD CA
320 AM PDT THU MAY 8 2003
SEVERAL SHORT TERM CONCERNS AS UPPER LOW MOVES SOUTH OFF THE PAC NW
COAST. SFO-LAS SURFACE P-GRAD REMAINS AROUND 10 MB THIS MORNING AND
MESOETA PROJECTS AN ADDITIONAL 6 MB INCREASE AS LOW AND ASSOCIATED
JET SHIFT ONSHORE OVER NORCAL THIS AFTERNOON. WITH LOW-LEVEL GRADS
BECOMING INCREASINGLY ALIGNED WITH UPPER FLOW TODAY...AND WITH
HIGH-RES X-SECTIONS CONSISTENT PROJECTING 80 KT FLOW AT H5
COINCIDING WITH STRONG DVM APPROACHING 8 MICROBARS/SEC...WILL
UPGRADE HIGH WIND WATCH TO WARNING FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS AND
EXTEND THRU THIS EVENING. WILL ALSO ISSUE WIND ADVISORY FOR THE KERN
COUNTY MOUNTAINS AS FLOW NEAR THE PASSES SHOULD EXCEED CRITERIA.
OTHER CONCERN IS PRECIP FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AS 00Z MESOETA AND
GFS PROJECT STRONGER OROGRAPHICS AND CAA OVER THE CWA THAN PREVIOUS
RUNS. GIVEN JET POSITION...STRENGTHENED OROGRAPHICS...AND H7 TEMPS
PROGGED TO DECREASE TO AROUND -10C TONIGHT...WILL ISSUE SNOW
ADVISORY FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA FOR TODAY AND EXTEND THRU THIS
EVENING.
AS LOW SHIFTS INTO THE INTERMOUNTAIN STATES LATE TONIGHT/FRI...SOME
RIDGING IS PROGGED TO OCCUR OVER THE EPAC AND WILL PROVIDE A DRIER
FLOW OVER THE CWA. WILL MAINTAIN SOME LOW POPS OVER THE SOUTHERN
SIERRA NORTH OF KINGS CANYON FRI...OTHERWISE A DRIER AND MORE STABLE
PATTERN SHOULD PREVAIL OVER THE DISTRICT FRI-SAT WITH RISES IN
THICKNESSES AND UPPER LEVEL TEMPS SUPPORTING SOME WARMING BY
SATURDAY. SURFACE AND UPPER GRADS WILL BE SLOW TO RELAX FRI AND MAY
REQUIRE ADDITIONAL WIND HEADLINES FOR THE KERN DESERTS.
FOR SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...PROGS NOW ARE ALL INDICATING WEAK
RIDGING OVER CA ON SUNDAY. FOR MANY OF THE MODELS THIS IS A FLIP
FLOP FROM YDAY...BUT WILL ACCEPT SINCE THERE IS CONSENSUS ON THIS
HAPPENING. THE PROGS HAVE TIMING DIFFERENCES ON BRINGING A POSSIBLE
TROUGH THROUGH THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE UKMET BRINGS AN OPEN
WAVE THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT WHILE THE GFS AND ECMWF BRING THE MAIN
ENERGY WITH TROUGH THROUGH CA TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT.
HOWEVER...THE NOGAPS AND GEM APPEAR TO BREAK OFF THE TROUGH OFFSHORE
ON TUESDAY AND KEEP HEIGHTS ABOVE 570 DM OVER THE CWFA. WILL ACCEPT
THE GFS/ECMWF SOLUTION FOR NOW...BUT LITTLE CONFIDENCE WITH THE
MODELS SHOWING POOR RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY. ALTHOUGH MID LEVEL
MOISTURE SHOULD BE PLENTIFUL...700-300 MB Q-VECTOR CONVERGENCE AND
MID LEVEL OMEGA REMAIN WELL TO THE NORTH OF OUR CWFA TUESDAY. WILL
THEREFORE KEEP POPS CONFINED TO THE YOSEMITE PARK AREA AND KEEP IT A
SLIGHT CHANCE AT BEST. TEMPERATURES SHOULD CONTINUE TO REMAIN BELOW
NORMAL AS THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF A STRONG RIDGE BUILDING OVER CA FOR
THE NEXT TEN DAYS.
.HNX...HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS TODAY AND THIS
EVENING.
...WIND ADVISORY FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS TODAY AND THIS
EVENING.
...SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO
KINGS CANYON TODAY AND THIS EVENING.
JSN/DSCAZ089>099-081230- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 530 AM PDT WED MAY 7 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY WEST WINDS 25 TO 35 MPH WILL CONTINUE IN THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS TODAY. STRONGER GUSTS TO 50 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE NEAR PASSES AND CANYONS. ELSEWHERE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS THURSDAY. REFER TO NPWHNX /WWUS76 KHNX/ FOR DETAILS. AN ISOLATED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORM WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND ADJACENT FOOTHILLS ON THURSDAY. ELSEWHERE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. JSN
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
The last snow event of this cool season occurred on the 8th as 10" of new snow fell at higher elevations in the Southern Sierra Nevada.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 2003
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: 5354645.