A wet Pacific storm system brought significant precipitation to portions of Northern California on December 6th. Heavy snow fell in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and daily rainfall records were set at downtown Sacramento and at Sacramento Executive Airport.
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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 wet Pacific storm system brought significant precipitation to portions of Northern California on December 6th. Heavy snow fell in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and daily rainfall records were set at downtown Sacramento and at Sacramento Executive Airport.
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 5, 9:30 PM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 930 PM PST WED DEC 5 2007 .DISCUSSION... WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS APPROACHING UPPER TROUGH AXIS NEAR 140 W. LIFT AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM IS ALREADY GENERATING RADAR RETURNS OFF THE COAST WEST OF EUREKA. FOG IS EXPECTED TO RETURN OVERNIGHT TO THE CENTRAL VALLEY...WITH FAVORABLE LINGERING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...LIMITED CLOUD COVER AND NEAR CALM WINDS. CLOUDS FROM THE APPROACHING STORM WILL MOST LIKELY PREVENT ANY FOG IN THE NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY. SOME FOG IS ALSO POSSIBLE IN MOUNTAIN VALLEYS OVERNIGHT INTO THE EARLY MORNING. 00Z NAM CONTINUING TREND OF SHIFTING TRACK OF UPPER LOW EASTWARD...BRINGING IT INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AROUND 12Z FRIDAY. THIS IS IN MUCH BETTER AGREEMENT WITH THE TRACK GFS AND OTHER MODELS HAVE BEEN SHOWING THE PAST FEW DAYS. AMSU TPW SHOWS GOOD MOISTURE TAP FOR THIS SYSTEM...WITH 1.00 TO 1.90 INCHES PRECIPITABLE WATER OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC. CONFIDENCE HAS IMPROVED THAT SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MOISTURE WILL FALL OVER THE AREA...ESPECIALLY OVER THE SIERRA. WARM FRONT WILL TRACK INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THURSDAY MORNING WITH COLD FRONT PASSING THROUGH IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVELS WILL DROP TO AROUND 5000 FEET IN SHASTA COUNTY DURING THE DAY THURSDAY...6000 FEET IN THE NORTHERN SIERRA. ONSET OF PRECIPITATION SHOULD BE AROUND 5 AM OVER THE COASTAL AND NORTHERN MOUNTAINS AND WILL SPREAD SOUTHWARD...REACHING SACRAMENTO AROUND 10 AM. ARCTIC AIR WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL DROP SNOW LEVELS DOWN TO AROUND 3500 FEET IN SHASTA COUNTY THURSDAY NIGHT AND BELOW 5000 FEET IN THE NORTHERN SIERRA. QPF AMOUNTS IN THE SIERRA COULD REACH AROUND 1.5 INCHES OR MORE. WINTER STORM WARNING LOOKS ON TRACK. SNOW ADVISORY IS BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE MOUNTAINS OF SHASTA COUNTY AND PORTIONS OF THE COASTAL RANGE. && .AVIATION... GENERALLY VFR CONDITIONS EXCEPT BAND OF LOW STRATUS AND MVFR TEMPO IFR FOG FROM 1000 TO 2000 FT ELEV OVER WEST SLOPE FOOTHILLS. MVFR WITH AREAS OF IFR FOG FORMATION IN SRN SAC AND NRN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEYS HIGHLY PERCENT PROBABLE AFT 09Z. ENOUGH HIGHER CLOUD LIKELY IN VLY BY 12Z TO INHIBIT SERIOUS RADIATIONAL FOG DEVELOPMENT. PRECIP TO BEGIN BTWN 14Z TO 16Z OVER MTNS N TO S RESPECTIVELY AND 18Z TO 21Z OVER CNTRL VLY. SNOW LEVELS AROUND 4000 TO 5000 FT TOMORROW AFTN LOWERING TO 3500 TO 4500 FT OVR SIERRA BY FRI MORN. THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TOMORROW NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING. THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO BRING LOCAL MVFR/IFR CONDITIONS IN CNTRL VLY AND WIDESPREAD AREAS OF IFR/LIFR CONDITIONS IN THE MTNS THURS AFTN AND OVERNIGHT. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ...WINTER STORM WARNING FROM THURSDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING FOR WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY/LASSEN PARK. ...WINTER STORM WARNING FROM THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOON FOR THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA 800 AM PST WED DEC 5 2007 CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-061500- 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 WED DEC 5 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG HAS FORMED ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY...NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...THE MOTHERLODE... THE WEST SLOPES OF THE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY. A DENSE FOG ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM PST. * DENSE FOG ADVISORY.........SEE WWUS76 KSTO - NPWSTO FOR DETAILS * .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL POTENTIAL IN THE SIERRA NEVADA THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. * WINTER STORM WATCH.........SEE WWUS46 KSTO - WSWSTO FOR DETAILS * .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. 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.
2 winter storm, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
A new daily rainfall record of 1.32 inches was set at Sacramento Executive Airport (SAC), breaking the old record of 0.90 inches set in 1950.
A new daily rainfall record of 1.42 inches was set at the downtown Sacramento (DTS) site, breaking the old record of 0.96 inches set in 1950.
One to two feet of snow fell above 6ooo feet with three to seven inches as low as 3500 to 4500 feet. The Meadow Lake reporting station at 7200 feet received a total of 32 inches of snow. Gusty winds up to 40 mph accompanied the arrival of the storm but after a few hours the winds dropped off and the storm became simply a heavy snow event.
One to two feet of snow fell above 6ooo feet with three to seven inches as low as 4500 feet. Gusty winds up to 40 mph accompanied the arrival of the storm but after a few hours the winds dropped off and the storm became simply a heavy snow event.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2007
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: 69918, 111539, 111541.