Heavy Rain, Kern
- When
- March 4, 2:30 PM PST to 4:30 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, Bakersfield
- Reported by
- OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
- Coordinates
- 35.343, -118.730 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Hail and Heavy Rain in California, March 4, 2005
Thunderstorms developed over the Kern County Mountains and subsequently moved over the Southeast San Joaquin Valley by mid-afternoon of the 4th. Periodic reports of hail, reported as large as one inch in diameter, occurred as cells cycled and propagated back to the northwest during the late afternoon.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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
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.
Thunderstorms developed over the Kern County Mountains and subsequently moved over the Southeast San Joaquin Valley by mid-afternoon of the 4th. Periodic reports of hail, reported as large as one inch in diameter, occurred as cells cycled and propagated back to the northwest during the late afternoon. The hail swath was not continuous...besides the 1" reports of hail, several instances of less than 1/2" hail occurred across the South San Joaquin Valley during the afternoon. Locally heavy rain (radar estimates of 1" of rain within 2 hours) with the thunderstorms resulted in street flooding within the Bakersfield urban area.
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 Mar 4, 2:20 PM PST, 10 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 2:20 PM PST, 10 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 220 PM PST FRI MAR 4 2005 .SHORT TERM...FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...ISOLATED AFTERNOON CONVECTION STARTING TO FIRE UP OVER THE SOUTH END OF THE CWFA. BASED ON WORKSTATION-ETA CONVECTIVE ANALYSIS...WILL EXPECT THE MAIN AREA OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT FROM FRESNO COUNTY SOUTH. MODELS ANALYSIS PLACES CAPE VALUES OF +800 J/KG NEAR BAKERSFIELD WITH +500 J/KG DOWN TO THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY LINE AND UP TO FRESNO. DUE TO THE SLIGHTLY LOW CAPE VALUES ALONG WITH MINIMAL SHEAR...WILL KEEP WORDING AS ISOLATED WHICH WILL BE PULSE IN NATURE. FURTHERMORE...CLOUD COVER AND SOME LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW OVER THE NORTH END OF THE DISTRICT MAY HELP SUPPRESS CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON. THIS LOWER POTENTIAL OVER THE NORTH END IS ALSO SUPPORT BY SPC WHICH KEEPS THE GENERAL THUNDERSTORM CATEGORY IN THE SAME AREA. YET...WILL KEEP WORDING OF ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE ENTIRE VALLEY AND FOOTHILL...AS WELL AS THE KERN MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS THROUGH THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. RUC40 AND IR SATELLITE PIC ANALYSIS SHOWS THE UPPER LOW CURRENTLY SPINNING OFF THE LOS ANGELES/ORANGE COUNTY COAST AND TRACKING SOUTHEAST. A SECONDARY LOW IS STARTING TO DROP BEHIND THE MAIN LOW AND IS CURRENTLY NEAR MONTEREY. INTERACTION OF THE TWO LOWS WILL KEEP THE ENTIRE DISTRICT UNSETTLED THROUGH OUT THE NIGHT. DEFORMATION ZONE HAS NOW SHIFTED SOUTHEAST MORE OVER KERN COUNTY. WILL THEREFORE EXPECT BEST DYNAMICS FROM DIFLUENCE FLOW TO BE OVER KERN BEFORE SHIFTING INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LATER TONIGHT. THEREFORE...WILL EXPECT PRECIPITATION AND THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE VALLEY TO DIMINISH NEAR MIDNIGHT WITH A CONTINUED THREAT OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE KERN MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS INTO SATURDAY. AS FOR THE SNOW ADVISORY OVER THE KERN MOUNTAINS...WILL GO AHEAD AND CANCEL THE ADVISORY AS THE ATMOSPHERE REMAINS TO WARM FOR MODERATE SNOW FALL. LATEST MODEL ANALYSIS AT 500MB NOW ATTEMPTS TO MOVE THE UPPER LOW TO SOUTHERN ARIZONA BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. WILL MAINTAIN A SLIGHT CHANCE OVER THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS THROUGH SATURDAY BEFORE ALLOWING THE TERMINATION OF PRECIP OVER THE CWFA. MODELS SHOW THE ENTIRE DISTRICT DRYING ON SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY AS THE UPPER LEVEL FLOW BECOMES MORE OFFSHORE. THEREFORE...WILL GO DRY STARTING DAY 3 AND MAINTAINING A DRY FORECAST INTO THE EXTENDED. .LONG TERM...FOR MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...A WARM AND DRY PATTERN WILL PREVAIL ON DAYS 4-7 AS A STRONG UPPER RIDGE EXTENDS ONSHORE FROM THE EPAC...WITH AXIS SHIFTING INLAND OVER THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST FRI. OFFSHORE SURFACE FLOW SHOULD COMBINE WITH INCREASED UPPER AIR TEMPS TO SUPPORT AFTERNOON HIGHS IN THE LOWER 70S THRU THE PERIOD...WITH 50S ACROSS THE HIGH SIERRA. HOWEVER TEMPS WILL LOWER SLIGHTLY ON FRIDAY AS RIDGE AXIS MOVES EAST AND SURFACE GRADS BECOME MORE ONSHORE. MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WILL ALSO PREVAIL THRU THE PERIOD WITH ONLY SCATTERED CI OVER THE CWA AS SOME HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE OVERRIDES RIDGE. RADIATIONAL COOLING SHOULD ALSO RESULT IN PATCHY LATE NIGHT/EARLY MORNING FOG IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SJ VALLEY...HOWEVER SURFACE BASED INVERSION SHOULD BE THIN RESULTING IN FOG RAPID BURNOFF BY MID-MORNING. && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && MOLINA/JSN WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD /ALL LOWER CASE/
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 4, 5:00 AM PST, 9 hours 30 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 500 AM PST FRI MAR 4 2005 CAZ089>094-051300- 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- 500 AM PST FRI MAR 4 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...AND THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA FOOTHILLS. .DAY ONE...TODAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP MAY PRODUCE FREQUENT LIGHTNING ...BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL...AND SMALL HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 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 OFFICE. CAZ096-097-051300- SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON-TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 500 AM PST FRI MAR 4 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA NORTH OF KERN COUNTY. .DAY ONE...TODAY A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 6 PM. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE /WWUS46 KHNX/ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 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 OFFICE. CAZ095-051300- KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 500 AM PST FRI MAR 4 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS. .DAY ONE...TODAY A SNOW ADVISORY ABOVE 6000 FEET IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 6 PM. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE /WWUS46 KHNX/ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 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 OFFICE. CAZ098-099-051300- INDIAN WELLS VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT- 500 AM PST FRI MAR 4 2005 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS. .DAY ONE...TODAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY 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 OFFICE. DCH
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 heavy rain, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail, Kern
- When
- March 4, 2:58 PM PST to 4:45 PM PST
- Where
- Kern County, 4 mi S of (Bfl)meadows Field Ap
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 35.383, -119.050
What these are
- Heavy Rain
- Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in California in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 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: 5444638, 5444637.