Flash Flood, Tulare
- When
- July 24, 12:30 PM PST to 3:30 PM PST
- Where
- Tulare County, 23 mi E of Johnsondale
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 35.967, -118.117
Flash Flooding in California, July 24, 2005
5" per hour over the same area that experienced flooding the day before resulted in local flooding on the 24th in the high Tulare County Mountains. 0" per hour.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. 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
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.
Radar rainfall rates of 2-2.5" per hour over the same area that experienced flooding the day before resulted in local flooding on the 24th in the high Tulare County Mountains. In the Indian Wells Valley of the Kern County Deserts radar showed rainfall rates in late afternoon thundershowers up to 3.0" per hour. Heavy rain was reported in Inyokern with Garlock Road closed due to water washing over the road. State Highway 14 had roadway flooding west of California City.
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 Jul 24, 8:20 AM PST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 24, 8:20 AM PST, 4 hours 10 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 920 AM PDT SUN JUL 24 2005 .SHORT TERM...FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...SHORT TERM CONCERN REMAINS FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL IN THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND KERN COUNTY MTNS/DESERTS. GOES SOUNDER DATA SHOW AXIS OF PRECIP WATER IN EXCESS OF ONE INCH EXTENDS WEST INTO THE KERN DESERT...WITH MSAS THETA-E VALUES APPROACHING 340K AND SFC MSTR CONVERGENCE AXIS EXTENDING N-S THRU DESERT ZONES. TULARE MTNS AND KERN MTN/DESERT ZONES REMAIN IN AREA THAT WILL EXPERIENCE BEST DIFFERENTIAL HEATING AND WITH WEAK FLOW ALOFT CELLS MAY REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY...THUS FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS WARRANTED FROM 1200-2100 PDT. PREFER SHORT TERM RUC GUIDANCE FOR MOISTURE PROGS THROUGH 00Z GIVEN COMPARISON WITH SATELLITE DATA...AND PROGGED SOUNDINGS FOR DESERT ZONES INDICATE SBCAPE EXCEEDING 2000 J/KG THIS AFTERNOON. PRIMARY CONVECTIVE THREAT APPEARS TO BE HEAVY RAINFALL AS INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FROM SATURDAY/S PRECIP HAS LOWERED THE LFC TO AROUND 8000 FEET AND SHOULD DECREASE STRONGER DOWNBURST POTENTIAL. CURRENT GRID PACKAGE REMAINS IN SHAPE WITH NO UPDATES REQUIRED AT THIS TIME. .LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...MEDIUM RANGE PROGS IN GOOD GENERAL AGREEMENT FOR THIS PERIOD...WITH THE PREVAILING FEATURES BEING A STRONG DRY UPPER RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN CONUS AND A WEAK UPPER TROUGH NEAR 130W. AS THE RESULT OF INTERACTION BETWEEN THESE TWO FEATURES...THE UPPER FLOW OVER SOCAL BECOMES MORE SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY WHICH MAY ALLOW FOR MONSOONAL MOISTURE TO RETURN TO THE CWFA...MAINLY NEAR THE CREST OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. SINCE THIS MOISTURE WILL BE HIGH BASED...ANY CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY SHOULD BE CONFINED TO THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND BE ISOLATED IN COVERAGE AND CONFINED TO THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. SINCE CONFIDENCE FOR THIS PERIOD IS IMPROVED...WILL STAY CLOSE TO MEX GUIDANCE AND KEEP TEMPERATURES A BIT ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD. && .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST FOR ALL AREAS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY. REFER TO TAFS AT KMCE...KFAT...AND KBFL FOR DETAILS. && .HNX...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FROM NOON UNTIL 900 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS/DESERTS AND THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS. && WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD /USE ALL LOWER CASE/ JSN/DS
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 24, 5:00 AM PST, 7 hours 30 minutes before
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
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash Flood, Kern
- When
- July 24, 3:02 PM PST to 5:45 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, Garlock
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 35.400, -117.783
Flash Flood, Kern
- When
- July 24, 5:34 PM PST to 5:45 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, 4 mi W of Calif City Airport
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 35.150, -118.083
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, July 24, 2005
- Heat in Alabama, July 24, 2005
- Flash Flood and Hail in Michigan, July 24, 2005
- Damaging Winds and Lightning Strike in Michigan, July 24, 2005
- Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 24, 2005
- Tornado and Hail in Iowa, July 24, 2005
- Damaging Wind in Arizona, July 24, 2005
- Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, July 24 to 25, 2005
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, July 24, 2005
- Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, July 24 to 25, 2005
- Damaging Wind in North Dakota, July 24, 2005
- Lightning Strike in Florida, July 24, 2005
More
Every storm in California in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in California, July 2005
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: 5471064, 5471065, 5471066.