Heavy Rain in California, December 28 to 31, 2004

Name: Heavy Rain in California, December 28 to 31, 2004
Start: 2004-12-28T00:22
End: 2004-12-31T09:26
Location: California

December 28 to 31, 2004 · NWS HNX · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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.

With significant rainfall urban ponding of water caused difficulties for many locations by midday on the 28th in Kings (city of Hanford), Tulare (city of Visalia), and Kern Counties. In Kern County reports of significant ponding was reported in and near the cities of Buttonwillow, Maricopa, and Bakersfield in the Southern San Joaquin Valley but also at California City, Mojave, and Edwards AFB in the Kern County Desert. By the 31st, urban ponding was more prevalent on the Southern San Joaquin Valley floor in and around the city of Bakersfield in Kern County, the city of Hanford in Kings County, and the cities of Visalia and Ivanhoe in Tulare County. In the foothills of Tulare County some minor rock slides were reported near Pine Flat Dam.

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 27, 2:50 PM PST, 9 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 27, 2:50 PM PST, 9 hours 32 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 27, 3:00 PM PST, 9 hours 22 minutes before

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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Tulare

When: December 28, 12:22 AM PST to December 31, 7:46 AM PST
Where: Tulare County, Countywide
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 36.220, -118.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Kings

When: December 28, 12:22 AM PST to December 31, 7:46 AM PST
Where: Kings County, Countywide
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 36.075, -119.815 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Rain, Kern

When: December 28, 11:28 AM PST to December 31, 9:26 AM PST
Where: Kern County, Countywide
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in California, December 2004

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: 5431266, 5431268, 5431267.