Name: Strong Wind and Winter Weather in California, January 29 to 31, 2008
Start: 2008-01-29T18:00
End: 2008-01-31T23:59
Location: California

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $2,000
Crop damage: $3,000
Events: 4

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.

Gusty winds persisted in the Kern County Mountains and Desert from January 28 to 30, as a strong Pacific storm slowly exited the region. Wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph were measured at several location such as Laurel, Edwards AFB, Indian Wells, and Jawbone Canyon.

Upslope winds into the Sierra Nevada also caused heavy snowfall of up to 15 inches to occur in the Southern Sierra Nevada on the 30th and 31st of January.

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 Jan 29, 2:38 PM PST, 3 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 2:38 PM PST, 3 hours 22 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
238 PM PST TUE JAN 29 2008

.DISCUSSION...
LIGHT PRECIP HAS SPREAD ACROSS THE SOUTHERN SIERRA THIS AFTERNOON.
SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE TO TWO INCHES HAVE FALLEN ALREADY ABOVE
5500 FEET AND WILL LOWER OVERNIGHT. CLOUD COVER CONTINUES TO
SPREAD ACROSS THE R3EST OF THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON AND A FEW
ISOLATED SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED OVERNIGHT TONIGHT...MAINLY NORTH OF
KERN COUNTY. AS COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH TONIGHT...WINDS WILL PICK
UP ACROSS THE VALLEY AND INTO KERN COUNTY...WHERE WIND ADV IS IN
PLACE FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERT. WINDS WILL REMAIN BELOW ADV
CRITERIA IN THE VALLEY...BUT A FEW HIGHER GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE WITH
THE FRONT.

LINGERING SHOWERS...MAINLY OVER THE SIERRA NORTH OF FRESNO COUNTY
WILL CONTINUE INTO WED MORNING. CLEARING SKIES WILL DEVELOP AS
HIGH PRESSURE CENTER BUILDS IN OVER THE REGION ON WEDNESDAY AND
INTO THURSDAY. NEXT COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED THURSDAY NIGHT AND THE
RFC HAS BUMPED UP QPF/S OVER THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT. CURRENT
TREND IS THAT THE UPPER VORT WILL REMAIN WELL TO THE NORTH AND
PUSH A COLD FRONT THROUGH HERE THURSDAY NIGHT WITH SCT SHOWERS INTO
THE VALLEY AND MORE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND HIGH ELEVATION SNOW IN
THE SIERRA. THE FRONT IS ACTUALLY EXPECTED TO HOLD TOGETHER INTO
THE LA BASIN BY FRIDAY MORNING.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE COMES WITH THE WEEKEND STORM...THE GFS AND
ECMWF HAVE BOTH BACKED OFF THE SYSTEM AND IS FORECASTING A
PROGRESSIVE SHORTWAVE...AS OPPOSED TO A DEEP CLOSED LOW...DROPPING
INTO THE CENTRAL CA REGION BY SATURDAY NIGHT. HAVE NOT MADE ANY
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE GRIDS IN THE EXTENDED AND WILL WAIT AND
SEE HOW THE EXTENDED MODELS HANDLE THE POTENTIAL STORM. WILL KEEP
CHANCE POPS IN THE GRIDS AND CLEARING ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

&&

.AVIATION...
AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL CALIFORNIA TONIGHT WILL
PROVIDE A CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION IN THE CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
AND THE SIERRA NEVADA TONIGHT. CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION MAY OBSCURE
THE MOUNTAINS. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOPED
DURING THE EARLY EVENING ACROSS THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND
DESERT AND CONTINUE THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY BEFORE DECREASING.
ELSEWHERE...VFR AND LOCAL MVFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH 00Z
THURSDAY.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
NONE

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM PST WEDNESDAY FOR
CAZ095-098-099.

&&

AVN/FW...BEAN
PUBLIC...JDB

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 29, 3:09 AM PST, 14 hours 51 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
309 AM PST TUE JAN 29 2008

CAZ095-301200-
KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
309 AM PST TUE JAN 29 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM PST
WEDNESDAY. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WEATHER MESSAGE ISSUED BY
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN HANFORD AT /WWUS76 KHNX/ OR
/SFONPWHNX/ FOR DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THE WIND ADVISORY WILL CONTINUE UNTIL 10 AM WEDNESDAY. OTHERWISE

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS TO THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.

TLM

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

3 strong wind, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.

Strong Wind, Indian Wells Vly

When: January 29, 6:00 PM PST to January 30, 12:15 AM PST
Where: Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
Measured: 49 kt (56 mph) measured gust
Property damage: $500
Crop damage: $1,000
Reported by: Mesonet

Strong Wind, Kern Cty Mtns

When: January 29, 7:00 PM PST to 10:00 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Measured: 49 kt (56 mph) measured gust
Property damage: $500
Crop damage: $1,000
Reported by: Mesonet

Strong Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: January 30, 4:00 AM PST to 10:00 AM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Measured: 41 kt (47 mph) measured gust
Property damage: $500
Crop damage: $1,000
Reported by: Mesonet

Winter Weather, S Sierra Mtns

When: January 31, 11:00 AM PST to 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

What these are

Strong Wind: Non-thunderstorm winds below high wind criteria that nonetheless caused damage or casualties.
Winter Weather: Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in California, January 2008

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: 79763, 79762, 79764, 79765.