Winter Storm in California, December 29 to 31, 2004

Name: Winter Storm in California, December 29 to 31, 2004
Start: 2004-12-29T23:30
End: 2004-12-31T16:00
Location: California

December 29 to 31, 2004 · NWS HNX · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

Another in a series of East Pacific storms continued to bring heavy snowfall with gusty wind to the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tulare County Mountains. New snow amounts included 37" at Giant Forest in the Tulare County Mountains; and 25" at Tuolumne Meadows by the morning of the 31st in the Southern Sierra Nevada. The accumulation of snow during the last 5 days of the month pushed the snowpack in the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tulare County Mountains to 166% of its normal for December 31st.

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 29, 9:49 PM PST, 1 hour 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 29, 9:49 PM PST, 1 hour 41 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
949 PM PST WED DEC 29 2004

.SHORT TERM...FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...SHORTWAVE ENERGY
CONTINUES TO ROTATE AROUND THE UPPER LOW OFF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
COAST. CURRENT SHOT OF ENERGY ENCROACHING ON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA IS
PRODUCING PRECIPITATION BRUSHING THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF OUR AREA.
PRECIPITATION AREA SHOULD SAG SOUTHWARD AS THE MAIN UPPER TROUGH
TRACKS SLOWLY SOUTHEAST. THE TIMING OF THE WINTER STORM WARNING
LOOKS ON TRACK...WITH HEAVIER SNOW AMOUNTS BEGINNING TO AFFECT THE
SIERRA NORTH OF TULARE COUNTY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING...AND WORKING
DOWN TO THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS BY AFTERNOON. DEEPENING SURFACE
LOW OFF THE OREGON COAST IS TIGHTENING THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT
ACROSS THE AREA AND SOUTHEAST WINDS ARE RUNNING AROUND 15 KT IN THE
VALLEY GENERALLY FROM FRESNO NORTHWARD WITH 20 TO 25 KT GUSTS ALONG
THE WEST SIDE. MODELS SUGGEST GRADIENT SHOULD BE PEAKING ABOUT
NOW...WEAKENING SLIGHTLY OVERNIGHT. EXPECT WINDS TO INCREASE
SLIGHTLY TONIGHT BUT SHOULD REMAIN JUST BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA.
FORECAST FOR TONIGHT LOOKS OK AND NO UPDATE IS PLANNED.

.LONG TERM...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOR SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH
WEDNESDAY...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SHOW NO RESPITE FOR STORM WEARY
RESIDENTS OF CENTRAL CA. IN FACT...THE GFS IS FORECASTING A MUCH
DEEPER AND COLDER TROUGH TO MOVE INTO THE CENTRAL CA SUNDAY NIGHT
AND MONDAY. THE COLD AIR ACCOMPANYING THIS SYSTEM MAY DROP SNOW
LEVELS TO 2500 FT AND RAISE THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLD SVR TSTMS WITH
HAIL IN THE SJ VLY MONDAY AFTERNOON. PRIOR TO ITS ARRIVAL...THE
TROUGH WILL BRING A HEALTHY SLUG OF MOISTURE INTO CENTRAL CA
PRECEDING THE COLD FRONT SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. THE GFS FORECASTS
500 MB TEMPS NEAR THE CENTRAL COLD CORE OF THIS LOW TO BE NEAR -33C.
SO AS THIS LOW SETTLES OVER THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR MONDAY...EXPECT
STEEPENING LAPSE RATES AND RAPID ATMOSPHERIC DESTABILIZATION. THE
GFS IS EVEN TRYING TO BRING A 700 MB DRY SLOT INTO THE CWA BY 00Z
TUE WHICH WOULD FURTHER SUPPORT ISOLD PM CONVECTION. WHATEVER THE
CASE...HEALTHY OROGRAPHICS FOLLOWED BY SIGNIFICANT HEIGHT FALLS AND
CAA WILL TRIGGER HEAVY SNOW OVER THE SIERNEV SUNDAY THRU MONDAY WITH
ANOTHER 1 TO 3 FT OF NEW SNOW PROBABLY ACCUMULATING OVER THE
SUMMITS. WEEKEND TRAVELERS COULD BE IN FOR MORE TRAVEL WOES OVER THE
GRAPEVINE SUNDAY NIGHT WITH THE THREAT OF ACCUMULATING SNOW DOWN TO
PASS LEVEL. THE MODELS ARE SLOW TO MOVE THIS SYSTEM EAST OF CA EARLY
NEXT WEEK. HOWEVER...THE GFS FORECASTS THE CENTER OF THE 50H LOW TO
BE OVER NEVADA BY 00Z WED LEAVING MOST OF CA TRAPPED IN ITS
MOIST...CYCLONIC FLOW. IF THERE IS A BREAK IN THE WET PATTERN...IT
MIGHT BE WEDNESDAY...BUT CONFIDENCE IS PRETTY LOW WITH THAT IDEA AT
THIS TIME SINCE YET ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL BE BARRELLING TOWARD
THE WEST COAST AND TIMING ITS ARRIVAL INTO CA WILL BE NEXT TO
IMPOSSIBLE RIGHT NOW.

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE
                                   SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FROM
                                   YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON
                                   THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.
                                ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE
                                   SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FROM
                                   KINGS CANYON TO THE KERN
                                   COUNTY LINE THURSDAY NIGHT AND
                                   FRIDAY.

&&

JEB/DURFEE

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 29, 4:00 PM PST, 7 hours 30 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
400 PM PST WED DEC 29 2004

CAZ096-097-301300-
SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON-TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
400 PM PST WED DEC 29 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA
FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON AND THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. PLEASE
REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE /WWUS46 KHNX/ FOR FURTHER
DETAILS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

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

CAZ089>095-098-099-301300-
WEST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-EAST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS-TULARE COUNTY FOOTHILLS-
KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INDIAN WELLS VALLEY-
SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT-
400 PM PST WED DEC 29 2004

.DAY ONE...TODAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

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

JWM

Event by event

2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, S Sierra Mtns

When: December 29, 11:30 PM PST to December 31, 4:00 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Winter Storm, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: December 29, 11:30 PM PST to December 31, 4:00 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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: 5431369, 5431370.