A warm southerly storm brought record daily rainfall to Modesto on December 12th.
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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 STO wrote it up.
A warm southerly storm brought record daily rainfall to Modesto on December 12th.
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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 11, 10:40 PM PST, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 1040 PM PST MON DEC 11 2006 .DISCUSSION... ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN CONTINUES. STRONG UPPER JET EXTENDING WESTWARD FROM NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ALONG 40N. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS SEVERAL DISTINCT WAVES EMBEDDED IN FLOW...THE FIRST CLIPPING THE NORTHWEST COAST THIS EVENING...NEAR 40N/137W...38N/155W...AND 35N/170W. EACH OF THESE IS RIDING ALONG A PW PLUME OF 1.00 TO 1.50 INCHES EXTENDING ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE WESTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC. MODELS CONTINUE TO BE OF LITTLE HELP IN FORECASTING TIMING AND EXTENT OF PRECIPITATION. STRONG WARM ADVECTION SUPPORTED BY MODERATE LARGE SCALE FORCING WILL CONTINUE TO BRING PRECIPITATION TO THE REGION THROUGH AT LEAST MIDDAY MONDAY BEFORE PERHAPS A BRIEF BREAK TUESDAY AFTERNOON. LOOKS LIKE THE WET PATTERN WILL CONTINUE FOR AREAS NORTH OF I-80 INTO WEDNESDAY BEFORE STRONGER RIDGING PUSHES THE ACTIVE WEATHER NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA. .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... STRONG JETSTREAM ALONG 40N OR SO WILL DRIVE SEVERAL WEATHER SYSTEMS INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND OREGON OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. A COLD FRONT WILL SPREAD SHOWERS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION TONIGHT. SHOWERS WILL MAKE IT INTO THE REDDING / RED BLUFF AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT...AND INTO SACRAMENTO BY COMMUTE TIME. A PERIOD OF MODERATE RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE WITH THE MAIN FRONT...WHICH WILL WEAKEN CONSIDERABLY WHEN IT GETS SOUTH OF SACRAMENTO. IN THE MOUNTAINS...SNOW LEVELS WILL BE AROUND 5000 FEET IN SHASTA COUNTY TO 6000 FEET NEAR CARSON PASS IN THE SIERRA. OROGRAPHIC ENHANCEMENT MAY CAUSE LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS OVER SIERRA PASSES TOMORROW. 2-4 INCHES MAY FALL IN A VERY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME...NECESSITATING CHAIN OR SNOW TIRE REQUIREMENTS. GUSTY WINDS MAY ALSO CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW. UPPER RIDGE REBUILDS TOMORROW NIGHT. SHOWERS SHOULD END...PERHAPS LINGERING OVER THE MOUNTAINS. WEDNESDAY (OR PERHAPS SOONER GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF THE FLOW) ANOTHER POTENT WAVE MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. 18Z GFS IS FARTHER NORTH WITH THIS FEATURE. THEREFORE EXPECT A MOSTLY DRY DAY WEDNESDAY EXCEPT FOR A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE SHASTA COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND NORTHERN SAC VALLEY. MODELS SEEM MORE IN LINE WITH THE DETAILS OF A TRANSITION BACK TO A MORE AMPLIFIED PATTERN OVER THE WEEKEND. THIS MAY DRIVE A STRONG STORM INTO THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. 18Z GFS NOW BRINGS A SEPARATE WAVE ACROSS THE FAR NORTH THURSDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE JET AND ASSOCIATED PRECIPITABLE MOISTURE PLUME TAKES AIM AT OUR AREA BY FRIDAY NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM MAY HAVE A DEEP MOISTURE TAP...STRONG DYNAMICS AND CYCLOGENESIS. 18Z AND 06Z GFS DEVELOP A SURFACE LOW SOMEWHERE ACROSS THE AREA...EITHER OVER SOUTH CENTRAL CALIFORNIA OR IN THE GREAT BASIN. THIS COULD BE A MAJOR SNOW PRODUCER IN THE SIERRA DEPENDING ON WHERE THE LOW DEVELOPS AND HOW MUCH COLD AIR SPILLS IN FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA. WILL ISSUE A QUICK SPS TO COVER THIS POSSIBILITY. SG && .AVIATION... MVFR CIG CENTRAL SAC VLY...KMYV...NORTHWARD WITH VFR MULTILAYERED BKN-OVC CLOUDS BTWN 080-150 ELSEWHERE. CONDITIONS DETERIORATING IN PCPN CENTRAL SAC VLY...KMYV...NORTHWARD BY 23Z WITH AREAS CIG BLO 010 VSBY 2-4SM OBSCG HYR TRRN. ELSEWHERE CONDITIONS BCMG LCL MVFR CIG/VSBY KMYV. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST TUESDAY FOR THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 700 AM PST MON DEC 11 2006 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-121500- SHASTA LAKE AREA/NORTHERN SHASTA COUNTY- BURNEY BASIN/EASTERN SHASTA COUNTY-NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CENTRAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CARQUINEZ STRAIT AND DELTA-NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- MOUNTAINS SOUTHWESTERN SHASTA TO NORTHERN LAKE COUNTIES- CLEAR LAKE/SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY-MOTHERLODE- EAST FOOTHILLS/NORTH SACRAMENTO VALLEY- WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY/LASSEN PARK-WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA- 700 AM PST MON DEC 11 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY A WEAK PACIFIC FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TONIGHT BRINGING SOME SNOW TO THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN PASSES OF THE SIERRA...OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY A SERIES OF PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL DRAG ACROSS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THROUGH THE COMING WEEK BRINGING PERIODS OF LIGHT SNOW TO THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN PASSES. OVER THE WEEKEND...A MUCH COLDER WEATHER SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO DROP INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO DROP SNOW LEVELS TO AS LOW AS 2000 FEET ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT (LOWER CASE): HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/STO
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
A daily rainfall record of 0.7 inches was set in Modesto on December 12th. This broke the old record of 0.62 inches set in 1995.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2006
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: 9794.