Debris Flow and Hail in California, September 3, 2003

Name: Debris Flow and Hail in California, September 3, 2003
Start: 2003-09-03T16:36
End: 2003-09-03T21:00
Location: California

September 3, 2003 · NWS HNX · 4 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: $25,000
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.

During the late afternoon of the 3rd convective activity brought a variety of threatening weather to the Lake Isabella area of Kern County and northward into the Tulare County Mountains. A severe thunderstorm with radar reflectivity of 70 dBz and a VIL of 53 hailed and damaged cars at the town of Lake Isabella. Dry lightning strikes occurred to the west of town near Democrat and rock slides occurred onto the road north of Kernville due to locally heavy rains. Urban and small stream flooding caused damage to a house in Bodfish, water ponded uniformly 2 inches deep in Lake Isabella, and roads were closed southeast of Weldon due to water on the roadway.

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 Sep 3, 2:00 PM PST, 2 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 3, 2:00 PM PST, 2 hours 36 minutes before

INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
300 PM PDT WED SEP 3 2003

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE SIERRA NEVADA AND
KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. WEATHER RADAR INDICATES SOME THE
STRONGER STORMS PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN ACROSS THE SIERRAS. AT
THE MOMENT ADDITIONAL CELLS FORMING IN THE TEHACHAPIS AND KERN
DESERTS. WITH THE STORM MOVEMENT TO THE NORTH...A FEW OF THE STORM
MAY MOVE INTO THE FOOTHILLS AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WITH THE LACK ANY FORCING
MECHANISM TO SUSTAINED THE STORMS...EXPECT THE THUNDERSTORMS
ACTIVITY WILL DIMINISH DURING THE EVENING. THERE IS SIGNIFICANT
DIFFERENCES IN THE SHORT TERM MODELS ETA/NGM AND MOST OF THE GLOBAL
MODELS. THE ETA MAINTAINS THE FOUR CORNERS HIGH INTO FRIDAY
RESULTING IN A CONTINUE SOUTHERLY FLOW AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE AND
INSTABILITY ACROSS THE CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. HOWEVER THE AVN PROGS
THE OFFSHORE TROUGH OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST TO MOVE INTO NORTHERN
CA LATE THURSDAY. THIS SCENARIO WILL RESULT IN A MORE OF A
SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW BRINGING IN A DRIER AND MORE STABLE MARITIME
AIRMASS. AN UPSTREAM SHORT WAVE IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC NEAR 135W MAY
HELP KICK THE TROUGH OFF THE CA COAST TOWARDS THE NW. THUS PREFER
THE MORE PROGRESSIVE SOLUTION OF THE AVIATION. WILL DECREASE
PROBABILITIES TO SLIGHT CHANCES ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS
THURSDAY. A STRONGER WESTERLY FLOW SHOULD MAINTAIN THE CONVECTIVE
THREAT EAST OF THE SIERRA ON FRIDAY. A MORE SIGNIFICANT COOLING
TREND TO START SATURDAY AS A STRONG UPPER TROUGH APPROACHES THE
PACIFIC NORTHWEST.

FOR SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...MODELS SHOW WESTERLY FLOW
PREVAILING OVER THE REGION...PROVIDING DRY WEATHER THROUGH THE
PERIOD. THE QUESTION FOR THIS PERIOD WILL BE HOW COOL WILL
TEMPERATURES GET. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS GENERALLY AGREE THAT A STRONG
PACIFIC TROUGH SHOULD REACH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST SUNDAY. GFS AND
ECMWF...ESPECIALLY GFS...ARE MOST AGGRESSIVE IN LOWERING HEIGHTS
OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. GFS IS CONSIDERED A
BIT TOO AGGRESSIVE AND FORECAST TEMPERATURES FOR THE EXTENDED PERIOD
ARE THUS A BIT ABOVE MOS GUIDANCE.

.HNX...SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHERN
SIERRA NEVADA UNTIL 02Z...

MV/JB

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 3, 4:15 AM PST, 12 hours 21 minutes before

CAZ089>099-041230-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
515 AM PDT WED SEP 3 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
INTERIOR.

.DAY ONE...TODAY.

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY...MAINLY IN THE SOUTHERN
SIERRA NEVADA...THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS...AND THE KERN COUNTY
DESERTS. THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL OVERSPREAD ALL OF THE
CENTRAL INTERIOR TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO
PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL.

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS
OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA THURSDAY. NO OTHER SIGNIFICANT 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.

SOWKO

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy rain, 1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 debris flow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Kern

When: September 3, 4:36 PM PST to 9:00 PM PST
Where: Kern County, Bodfish
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Lightning, Kern

When: September 3, 4:46 PM PST to 5:15 PM PST
Where: Kern County, Democrat Spgs
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hail, Kern

When: September 3, 4:46 PM PST to 5:15 PM PST
Where: Kern County, Lake Isabella
Measured: 0.5 in hail
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 35.600, -118.450

Debris Flow, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: September 3, 5:29 PM PST to 8:18 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty 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.
Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.
Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Debris Flow: A fast-moving slurry of mud, rock and debris, usually on a slope soaked by heavy rain or stripped by a fire.

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, September 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: 5337822, 5337820, 5337821, 5337819.