A cold storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the local mountains. Snow fell as low as the 3000 ft level near places like Hesperia, the Cajon Pass, Descanso, Campo, and Warner Springs.
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.
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 episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
A cold storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the local mountains. Snow fell as low as the 3000 ft level near places like Hesperia, the Cajon Pass, Descanso, Campo, and Warner Springs. Up to a foot of snow was reported at some higher elevations of the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountains, and up to 10 inches was reported in the San Diego County mountains. The temperature dropped to 9 degrees at Big Bear Lake by the morning of the 4th, and the lake completely froze over by the end of the storm.
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 San Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 3, 2:00 AM PST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA 200 AM PST MON JAN 3 2005 .SYNOPSIS...RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW WILL INCREASE TODAY AS A COLD WINTER STORM APPROACHES FROM THE NORTHWEST. THE SHOWERS WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES TODAY AND INTO TUESDAY AND THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT INTO TUESDAY FOR THE MOUNTAINS. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL AREAS INTO TUESDAY. A COOL MOIST WEST FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE UNSETTLED WEATHER INTO THE END OF THE WEEK WITH SMALL CHANCES OF SHOWERS AT TIMES. && .DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE... SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTIES. LITTLE PRECIP HAS FALLEN SINCE MIDNIGHT...EXCEPT IN ORANGE COUNTY WHERE ONE TENTH TO TWO TENTHS OF AN INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN LOCALLY. THE MAIN ACTION REMIANS WEST AND NORTH OF LOS ANGELES. HOWEVER... SOME ISOLATED CELLS ARE STARTING TO SHOW UP OVER THE WATERS AND MOVING IN FROM THE SSW. SO EXPECTING INCXREASING SHOWERS OVER COASTAL AREAS THIS EARLY MORNING. PLUS...THERE IS A BATCH OF MOISTURE THAT IS NOW ENHANCING JUST TO THE SOUTH...AND IT WILL LIKELY SPREAD MODERATE SHOWERS OVER THE AREA OVER THE NEXT 4 HOURS. BUT THE COLD FRONT DOES SEEM TO HAVE SLOWED DOWN. IT NOW LOOKS TO START MOVING IN SLOWLY FROM NW TO SE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY. LATEST MODELS HAVE BACKED DOWN ON PRECIP AMOUNTS AND WIND GUSTS... BUT WILL NOT TAMPER WITH THAT. PRESSURE GRADIENTS REMAIN LESS THAN 5 MB ONSHORE THROUGH TUE MORNING...AND 700 MB SW WINDS NEVER GET ABOVE 25 KNOTS. BUT LOCAL WIND GUSTS NEAR THUNDERSTORMS THIS PM COULD BECOME QUITE STRONG. THE LI IS NEAR ZERO THIS PM OVER MUCH OF THE AREA. COULD BE THUNDER SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS...AND THE WSW LOOKS APPROPRIATE. SOILS ARE SATURATED...SO WILL CONTINUE THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH. DAY SHIFT WILL LIKELY ISSUE SOME FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS ONCE THE CELLS INCREASE THIS PM. SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER TO 3000 FEET TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING. POSSIBLE WATERSPOUTS OVER THE WATERS TODAY. RAIN AMOUNTS FROM THIS STORM WILL RANGE FROM ABOUT 1 TO 2 INCHES IN THE COASTAL AREAS AND 3 TO 5 INCHES ON THE COASTAL MOUNTAIN SLOPES AND FOOTHILLS. UP TO AN INCH OF RAIN COULD FALL IN THE DESERTS. RAINFALL TOTALS WILL GENERALLY BE LARGER N AND LESS TO THE S. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD RANGE FROM UP TO TWO FEET IN THE SDB MOUNTAINS WITH ABOUT 8 INCHES IN THE SAN MOUNTAINS. THERE COULD BE A LITTLE SNOW IN THE UPPER DESERTS TUE AS THE COLDER AIR MOVES IN. THE 543 TROF LINE IS FINALLY THROUGH BY TUE PM. ISOLATED CONVECTION POSSIBLE TUE PM IN THE COLD AIR...AND LI STILL AROUND 2. COOL...MOIST WESTERLY 558 CYCLONIC FLOW CONTINUES WED FOR CLOUDY SKIES AND A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. MODELS NOW DEPICT A STRONGER STORM THU NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. BUT RUNS HAVE BEEN INCONSISTENT. AT LEAST SLIGHT CHANCE WILL SUFFICE FOR NOW. WINDS LOOK STRONG WITH THE FRIDAY SYSTEM WITH A LARGE WESTERLY 120 KT JET MAX DEVELOPING OVER OUR AREA AND JUST TO THE SOUTH. IF NEXT TWO RUNS ARE CONSISTENT...THE FRI-SAT STORM MAY BE THE STRONGER SYSTEM OVER TODAYS. YET ANOTHER STORM WITH AN EVEN STRONGER JET MAX LOOKS POSSIBLE BY SUN. THE WET PATTERN CONTINUES. && .SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL AREAS UNTIL TUESDAY AFTERNOON..SEE LAXFFASGX. WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE SAN BERNARDINO...RIVERSIDE AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY MOUNTAINS ABOVE 5000 FEET UNTIL 200 PM TUESDAY...SEE LAXWSWSGX. MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT...SEE LAXMWSSGX. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...SEE LAXHWOSGX. && MACKECHNIE
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2005
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5437994, 5437995, 5437996.