The storm that arrived at the beginning of November brought locally heavy rain to the Kern County deserts and gusty winds to both the mountains and the deserts. Road flooding was reported near Randsburg and Rosamond, and rain falling on the El Paso Mountains produced runoff that flooded the Red Rock-Randsburg Road.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 HNX wrote it up.
The storm that arrived at the beginning of November brought locally heavy rain to the Kern County deserts and gusty winds to both the mountains and the deserts. Road flooding was reported near Randsburg and Rosamond, and rain falling on the El Paso Mountains produced runoff that flooded the Red Rock-Randsburg Road. West winds gusted to 50 mph over the Kern County mountains and deserts on the 4th as a dry cold front moved through central California in the wake of the storm. Peak wind gusts of 60-65 mph occurred below the favored mountain passes such as Jawbone and Blue Max.
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 Nov 1, 8:12 AM PST, 4 hours 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 912 AM PDT SAT NOV 1 2008 .DISCUSSION...NEGATIVELY TILTED TROUGH NEAR 130W WITH A 100+ KT 250 MB JET STREAK AHEAD OF IT PULLING SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE NORTHWARD AND SPREADING IT OVER CENTRAL CA. IN FACT...MOST OF OUR CWFA PICKED UP PRECIPITATION FROM SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ALREADY THIS MORNING...PROMPTING AN EARLY UPDATE TO THE GRID PACKAGE FOR TODAY. T-STORMS WERE MENTIONED FOR THE ENTIRE CWFA FOR TODAY AS A RESULT OF WAA AHEAD OF THE TROUGH PROVIDING FOR SOME INSTABILITY. FROM MESOWEST OBSERVATIONS...SNOW LEVELS HAVE BEEN RUNNING AT 10000 FEET OR HIGHER THIS MORNING...BUT PROGGED RFC QPF AMOUNTS SUGGEST HEAVY SNOWFALL AT THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA SO THE WINTER STORM WARNING SET TO TAKE EFFECT LATER THIS MORNING LOOKS GOOD. ANOTHER CONCERN IS THE QPF PROGS INDICATE 2+ INCHES OF RAIN ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS NORTH OF KINGS CANYON. THE RAIN FALL RATES MAY BE SUFFICIENT ENOUGH TO PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING OVER THE TELEGRAPH BURN AREA LATER TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. ALTHOUGH IR IS INDICATING A LULL IN THE PRECIPITATION OVER MUCH OF OUR AREA LATER TODAY...ANOTHER ROUND OF PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED BY TONIGHT AS A STRONG VORT MAX ROUNDS THE BASE OF THE TROUGH AND MOVES THROUGH CENTRAL CA. THE TROUGH AXIS IS PROGGED BY THE WRF AND GFS TO CROSS OUR AREA SUNDAY MORNING WITH COOLER AIR MOVING IN BEHIND IT. AS A RESULT THE PRECIPITATION WILL BECOME SHOWERY AGAIN ON SUNDAY AND SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO 7500 TO 8000 FEET. AFTER THE SHOWERS TAPER OFF ON SUNDAY NIGHT...ANOTHER SYSTEM IS PROGGED TO CROSS NORCAL MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL BRING A PERIOD OF LIGHT PRECIPITATION TO OUR AREA MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY. THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO BE SOMEWHAT COLDER THAT THE SYSTEM AFFECTING OUR AREA AT THIS TIME AND THEREFORE SNOW LEVELS WILL BE MUCH LOWER. MEDIUM RANGE PROGS CONTINUING TO INDICATE A FLAT UPPER RIDGE OVER CA WEDNESDAY THROUGH NEXT SATURDAY WHICH WILL KEEP OUR AREA DRY WITH A SLOW WARMING TREND. && .AVIATION...MVFR CONDITIONS OVER MTN/FOOTHILL WITH AREAS OF IFR DUE TO CEILINGS/VISIBILITIES IN RAIN/HIGHER ELEVATION SNOW. VFR CONDITIONS IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNTIL 21Z TODAY....MAINLY SOUTH OF FRESNO COUNTY THEN IFR WITH AREAS OF MVFR THROUGH 18Z SUNDAY DUE TO LOW CEILINGS/VISIBILITIES IN RAIN. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES...NONE. && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST SUNDAY FOR CAZ096-097. FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING FOR CAZ093. && PUBLIC...DS AVN/FW...JDB WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 508 AM PDT SAT NOV 1 2008 CAZ096-097-021215- SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON- TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 508 AM PDT SAT NOV 1 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FOR THE PERIOD SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER STORM WATCH /WWUS46 KHNX/ OR /SFOWSWHNX/ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE WINTER STORM WARNING EXTENDS INTO SUNDAY MORNING...OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER STORM WATCH /WWUS46 KHNX/ OR /SFOWSWHNX/ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT OR UNUSUAL CONDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD CAZ093-021215- MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS- 508 AM PDT SAT NOV 1 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS ESPECIALLY IN THE VICINITY OF THE TELEGRAPH FIRE BURN AREA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE VICINITY OF THE TELEGRAPH FIRE BURN AREA FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST FLASH FLOOD WATCH /WGUS66 KHNX/ OR /SFOFFAHNX/ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH EXTENDS INTO SUNDAY MORNING. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST FLASH FLOOD WATCH /WGUS66 KHNX/ OR /SFOFFAHNX/ FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT OR UNUSUAL CONDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 1253 PM PDT SAT NOV 1 2008 CAZ098-099-020000- INDIAN WELLS VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT- 1253 PM PDT SAT NOV 1 2008 ...LOCALLY HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE DESERT TODAY... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE CONTINUED MOST OF THE MORNING AND INTO EARLY AFTERNOON. MOST AREAS HAVE REPORTED AROUND 0.50 OF INCH OF RAIN BUT SOME LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS WE HAVE ESTIMATED NORTH OF RIDGECREST OF AROUND ONE INCH OF RAIN. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO EARLY AFTERNOON AND WILL GRADUALLY TAPER OFF LATER THIS EVENING. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ANOTHER .25 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE HEAVIER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. MINOR ROAD FLOODING IS POSSIBLE IN THE AREAS OF RIDGECREST AND IN SOME OF MORE FLOOD PRONE AREAS...INCLUDING ARROYOS AND DRY RIVER BEDS. PLEASE BE PREPARED FOR WATER RISES OVER THESE AREAS. REMEMBER TO TURN AROUND AND DONT DROWN. JDB WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 strong wind, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Minor road flooding was reported by the Highway Patrol at US 395 and Johannesburg Road. Also reported at SR 14 and Rosamond Blvd.
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, November 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: 143293, 143295, 143296, 143298.