Winter Storm and Dust Storm in California, December 8 to 10, 2006

Name: Winter Storm and Dust Storm in California, December 8 to 10, 2006
Start: 2006-12-08T14:00
End: 2006-12-10T18:00
Location: California

December 8 to 10, 2006 · NWS HNX · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 6

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.

An approaching Pacific storm system produced strong south winds ahead of a cold front that moved across the Central and Southern San Joaquin Valley on the 8th. Gusts up to 39 mph raised dust from plowed farmland, reducing visibility to near zero at times. At least one traffic accident was attributed to the event when a pickup rear-ended a tractor-trailor on State Highway 99 near Tulare (Tulare County). Winds also resulted in arcing powerlines that sparked a power-pole fire west of Hanford (Kings County). Fresno (Fresno County) reached a record high temperature for December of 77 degrees due to downslope winds from the Sierra Nevada foothills. The storm itself moved across the Southern Sierra Nevada from the evening of the 9th to the morning of the 10th. Snowfall amounts were generally 13-17 inches, with one location reaching 23 inches (Poison Ridge, elevation 6900 feet msl).

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 8, 9:00 AM PST, 5 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 8, 9:00 AM PST, 5 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- HANFORD CA
900 AM PST FRI DEC 8 2006

.SHORT TERM...FOR TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY...STRENGTHENING OFFSHORE
P-GRADS HAVE RESULTED IN INCREASED WINDS ALONG THE SOUTH END OF THE
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY THIS MORNING...AND SUBSEQUENTLY TEMPERATURES HAVE
ALREADY EXCEEDED PROJECTED MAX/S IN SOME AREAS. HAVE ALREADY ISSUED A
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FOR THE SOUTH VALLEY AND WILL BE ISSUING AN
UPDATED PACKAGE BY 930 AM THIS MORNING. THE STRENGTHENING P-GRADS
ARE A RESULT OF INTERACTION WV LOOP INDICATING AN UPPER LOW CENTERED
NEAR 38N/129W AND A LARGE DRY AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE DESERT
SW. 12Z WRF INDICATING THE LOW REACHING THE NORCAL COAST TONIGHT
WITH AN ASSOCIATED NEGATIVELY TILTED TROUGH SWINGING THROUGH CENTRAL
CA LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY...RESULTING IN A BRIEF ROUND OF
LIGHT PRECIPITATION FOR MUCH OF OUR CWFA. A MUCH STRONGER LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO PUSH INTO CENTRAL CA SATURDAY NIGHT.
THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO SPREAD SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION OVER OUR
AREA LATE SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY AS CENTRAL CA WILL BE UNDER
THE LFQ OF A 130KT 250 MB JET MAX. MAY CONSIDER ISSUING A WINTER
STORM WATCH FOR THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS WITH THE
AFTERNOON PACKAGE DEPENDING ON PROJECTED QPF OUTPUT.

.LONG TERM...FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH
THURSDAY...THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS RAPIDLY BUILD EPAC RIDGE INTO CA
BEHIND DEPARTING UPPER LEVEL TROUGH SUN NIGHT. HOWEVER...RESIDUAL LOW
LEVEL MOISTURE WILL BANK UP AT THE SOUTH END AND EAST SIDE OF THE SJ
VLY AS WELL AS THE SIERNEV FTHLS AND THE NORTH FACING SLOPES OF THE
TEHACHAPI MTNS THRU MONDAY AM. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF SPOTTY LIGHT
PRECIP LINGERED OVER THE TEHACHAPI MTNS INTO MONDAY MORNING.
OTHERWISE...DRY WEATHER WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE CWA MONDAY AS THE
UPPER LEVEL RIDGE CONTINUES TO BUILD OVER CA. A WEAK SHORT WAVE TROF
WILL MOVE INTO THE PAC NW TUE BUT THE MODELS DIFFER ON THE SOUTHWARD
EXTENT OF ITS MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS. THE NOGAPS AND THE UKMET ARE A
LITTLE STRONGER AND DEEPER WITH THIS TROF THAN THE OTHER MODELS...AND
CARRY SUFFICIENT MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS SOUTHWARD INTO CENTRAL CA BY
TUE AFTN OR EVE.  THE CANADIAN GLOBAL AND GFS SOLNS SHOW A MUCH
WEAKER SYSTEM TREKKING ACROSS NRN CA TUESDAY WITH PRECIP STAYING
NORTH OF OUR CWA. DAY 5 POPS WERE LOWERED SLIGHTLY ACROSS THE NORTH
IN FAVOR OF THE LATEST HPC GUIDANCE WHICH KEEPS MEASURABLE PRECIP
GENERALLY NORTH OF A LINE FROM SJC TO YNP. THE EPAC RIDGE IS PROGGED
TO BUILD BACK OVER CA WED THRU THU WHILE A SFC HIGH SETTLES OVER THE
GREAT BASIN. DURING THIS TIME...A DRY OFFSHORE FLOW WILL REESTABLISH
ITSELF ACROSS CA WITH A RETURN OF WARMER AFTN TEMPS. IN THE SJ VLY...
THE BIGGEST WEATHER WOE WILL BE THE OCCURRENCE OF DENSE FOG DURING
THE NIGHT AND MORNING HOURS.

&&

.AVIATION...AREAS OF MVFR IN HAZE WILL PERSIST IN THE SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY THROUGH THIS EVENING...WITH LOCAL IFR DUE TO FOG UNTIL 18Z
TODAY. ELSEWHERE...VFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED THROUGH 12Z
SATURDAY. FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO THE TAFS FOR
KMCE...KFAT AND KBFL AND TWEBS FOR ROUTES 421 AND 423.

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

DS/DURFEE

Event by event

4 dust storm, 1 winter storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Dust Storm, W Central S.J. Valley

When: December 8, 2:00 PM PST to 8:00 PM PST
Where: W Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Mesonet

Dust Storm, E Central S.J. Valley

When: December 8, 2:00 PM PST to 8:00 PM PST
Where: E Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Dust Storm, Sw S.J. Valley

When: December 8, 2:00 PM PST to 8:00 PM PST
Where: Sw S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Dust Storm, Se S.J. Valley

When: December 8, 2:00 PM PST to 8:00 PM PST
Where: Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Law Enforcement

Winter Storm, S Sierra Mtns

When: December 9, 6:00 PM PST to December 10, 6:00 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Mesonet

Heavy Snow, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: December 9, 6:00 PM PST to December 10, 6:00 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Mesonet

What these are

Dust Storm: Blowing dust that reduced visibility to a quarter mile or less.
Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in California, December 2006

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: 6419, 6509, 6510, 6511, 6514, 6516.