Heavy rain caused small stream and creak flooding throughout the coastal region of Del Norte County. Impacts were primarily limited to the flooding of area roads but one community sustained damage.
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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 EKA wrote it up.
Heavy rain caused small stream and creak flooding throughout the coastal region of Del Norte County. Impacts were primarily limited to the flooding of area roads but one community sustained damage.
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 Eureka, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 28, 11:25 AM PST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA 1125 AM PST SUN DEC 28 2008 .SYNOPSIS...SERIES OF WARM FRONTS WILL GENERATE PERIODIC RAIN AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOWFALL THROUGH MONDAY. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA ON MONDAY. && .UPDATE...ZONE PACKAGE AND HWO PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN UPDATED TO INCLUDE AREAL FLOOD WARNING FOR DEL NORTE COUNTY THROUGH TODAY AND THIS EVENING...AND MAY NEED TO BE UPDATED TO CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY MORNING AS THE NAM PREDICTS ANOTHER ROUND OF HEAVY PRECIPITATION EARLY IN THE DAY. PRECIPITATION TOTALS AS OF AROUND 10 AM WERE 3 TO 4 INCHES NEAR CEC AND OVER 7 INCHES AT GASQUET. SPOTTERS REPORTED SIGNIFICANT FLOODING AROUND A BLOCKED CULVERT DUE TO DEBRIS ACCUMULATED THROUGHOUT THE DRY SEASON...AND FEEL THIS IS LIKELY TO BE OCCURRING IN OTHER LOCATIONS AS WELL. CMC .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY...LONG FETCH OF WARM MOIST AIR AND RAIN CONTINUES TO BE AIMED AT DEL NORTE COUNTY AND FAR NORTHERN HUMBOLDT COUNTIES. HEAVY RAIN RATES HAVE LET UP IN THE LAST FEW HOURS...BUT EXPECT HIGHER RAIN RATES TO DEVELOP AGAIN BY THIS AFTERNOON. THE FOCUS OF THE RAIN STILL LOOKS TO BE ACROSS DEL NORTE COUNTY...WHERE THE SMITH RIVER IS FORECAST TO GO ABOVE MONITOR STAGE. AS OF 3 AM...THE STAGES AT DR FINE-BRIDGE AND JED SMITH STATE PK WERE RUNNING A FEW FEET BELOW MONITOR STAGE AND RISING FASTER THAN FORECASTED. WE ISSUED A RIVER STATEMENT FOR THE SMITH BASED ON CURRENT RATES AND ONSITE REPORTS FROM THE SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT. WITH THE RIVER RISING FASTER THAN EXPECTED AND THE ADDITION OF WATER FROM SNOW MELT...IT MAY INDEED REACH OR GO A FOOT OR TWO ABOVE FLOOD STAGE IF CURRENT RAIN RATES CONTINUE THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WARM FRONT AND PRECIP MAX APPEARS TO LIFT NORTHWARD TONIGHT INTO SOUTHWESTERN OREGON TONIGHT...AS ANOTHER WAVE DEVELOPS ON THE OFFSHORE COLD FRONT. THOUGH PRECIP LOOKS TO DROP OFF AFTER MIDNIGHT...WE WILL PROBABLY STILL SEE RAIN...ALONG WITH GOOD WARMING THROUGH THE NIGHT. MAX TEMPS ALONG THE COAST SHOULD OCCUR OVERNIGHT...AS WE GET INTO THE WARM AND DRIER SECTOR OF THE STORM. COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH BY MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR ONE LAST PARTING SHOT OF RAIN. PRECIP LOOKS TO WIND DOWN MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING AS DOWNWARD VERTICAL MOTION AND STABILITY INCREASES IN THE WAKE OF THE COLD FRONT AND A LIGHT OFFSHORE FLOW DEVELOPS. GFS WAS FASTER WITH BRINGING SOUTHERLY FLOW...HIGHER THETA-E AIR AND RAIN TO THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT...WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE BY EARLY WED MORNING. GFS PREFERRED IN THIS CASE. DJB .LONG TERM...TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...THE WET PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD...BEGINNING WITH A FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE REGION ON WEDNESDAY. THE ZONAL FLOW ALOFT WILL TURN MORE NORTHWESTERLY ON THURSDAY AS A VERY WEAK UPPER RIDGE APPROACHES THE WEST COAST...AND SHOWERS SHOULD WIND DOWN A BIT DURING THE DAY THUR. THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH AND FRONT WILL BRING RAIN TO THE REGION AGAIN BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK. TIMING OF THE BULK OF THE PRECIP VARIES BY MODEL...WITH THE GFS BEING THE EARLIEST BY BRINGING IT IN ON FRIDAY...AND THE ECMWF HOLDING OFF ON MOST OF THE RAIN UNTIL SATURDAY. IN EITHER CASE...IT APPEARS THE GENERALLY WET PATTERN WILL LAST THROUGH THE END OF NEXT WEEK. KL && .AVIATION...GENERALLY IFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE TO MVFR BY THIS AFTERNOON WITH ISOLD IFR CONS POSSIBLE ALONG THE COAST AND IN HEAVIER PRECIP. BC && .MARINE...MODERATE S WINDS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE WATERS MONDAY MORNING. WINDS WILL DROP BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS THIS MORNING OVER THE NEARSHORE WATERS S OF CAPE MENDOCINO. NW SWELL WILL REMAIN NEAR 10 FT AT 11 TO 13 SEC. THESE MDT SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL PRODUCE WIND WAVES UP TO 7 FT AND WILL COMBINE WITH THE NW SWELL TO PRODUCE A HAZARD OF CROSSING SEAS. THIS SHOULD PROVE TO BE UNPLEASANT...IF NOT DANGEROUS TO SMALLER VESSELS...OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. WINDS WILL SHIFT TO THE N TO NW AND DIMINISH MONDAY AFTERNOON IN THE WAKE OF A WEAKENING COLD FRONT. NW SWELL WILL SUBSIDE BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS BY THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. ANOTHER FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE WATERS LATE TUE WITH WINDS SHIFTING TO THE S BY WED. MEDIUM RANGE GUIDANCE SHOW A STORM SYSTEM MOVG ACROSS THE ERN PAC BY THE END OF THE WEEK. ENP AND SWAN GUIDANCE PREDICT A WNW SWELL BUILDING TO 22 TO 24 FT HEADING INTO NEXT WEEKEND. GIVEN LOW CONFIDENCE IN A FAIRLY DRASTIC SHIFT IN GUIDANCE...HAVE UNDERCUT ENP BY ABOUT 5 FT. BC && .EKA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ...SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR DEL NORTE COUNTY UNTIL 3 PM. ...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST TODAY FOR TRINITY COUNTY. ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ALL WATERS. && VISIT US AT HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/EUREKA
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA 1125 AM PST SUN DEC 28 2008 CAZ001-003-291930- REDWOOD COAST-NORTH COAST INTERIOR- 1125 AM PST SUN DEC 28 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ...AREAL FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FOR DEL NORTE COUNTY THROUGH THIS EVENING... A STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO BRING MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE CONTINUED RAINFALL IS CREATING RISING WATER LEVELS ON AREA CREEKS AND STREAMS...WITH FLOODING IMPACTS FROM HEAVY RAINFALL AND BLOCKED CULVERTS REPORTED IN DEL NORTE COUNTY. SEE AWIPS PRODUCT /SFORVSEKA/ OR WMO PRODUCT /FLUS46 KEKA/ AND AWIPS PRODUCT /SFOFLWEKA/ OR WMO PRODUCT /WGUS46/ FOR MORE DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY MORNING WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN LIKELY. THE RAIN WILL TRANSITION TO SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. PRECIPITATION INTENSITY WILL DIMINISH BY LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. INTERMITTENT RAIN AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN EUREKA.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
138 PM PST SUN DEC 28 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0126 PM SNOW 11 SSW CARRVILLE 40.92N 122.80W
12/28/2008 M5.0 INCH TRINITY CA TRAINED SPOTTER
AT 2498 FEET ASL RECEIVED 5INCHES OF SNOW OVERNIGHT.
0126 PM SNOW 10 NNW WEAVERVILLE 40.86N 123.04W
12/28/2008 M6.0 INCH TRINITY CA TRAINED SPOTTER
AT 2798 FEET ASL RECEIVED 6 INCHES OF SNOW OVERNIGHT.
&&
RERThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rain caused debris laden flow to block the culvert of a small stream near Klamath. The resultant flooding closed several roads in the area and inundated one commercial building.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2008
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: 149717.