Strong Wind, Kern Cty Mtns
- When
- May 5, 10:57 AM PST to May 6, 11:27 PM PST
- Where
- Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
- Measured
- 45 kt (52 mph) measured gust
- Property damage
- $500
- Reported by
- Mesonet
Strong Wind in California, May 5 to 6, 2009
A low pressure trough moved into central California on May 5th, bringing only light precipitation to the Southern Sierra Nevada. This trough did, however, tighten surface pressure gradients across the region, producing gusts to 52 mph at River Kern and sustained winds of 32 mph at Edwards AFB.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $2,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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.
A low pressure trough moved into central California on May 5th, bringing only light precipitation to the Southern Sierra Nevada. This trough did, however, tighten surface pressure gradients across the region, producing gusts to 52 mph at River Kern and sustained winds of 32 mph at Edwards AFB.
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 May 5, 8:30 AM PST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 5, 8:30 AM PST, 2 hours 27 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 930 AM PDT TUE MAY 5 2009 .UPDATE...REMOVED REMAINDER OF POPS EXCEPT MAYBE A FEW SHOWERS AROUND YOSEMITE PARK TODAY. OTHERWISE SKIES ARE GENERALLY PARTLY CLOUDY...EXCEPT MOSTLY CLOUDY FROM ABOUT KINGS CANYON NORTH OVER HIGHER ELEVATIONS. TEMPS RUNNING A FEW DEGS ABOVE YESTERDAY AND CURRENT FCST HIGHS LOOK PRETTY GOOD. && .FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... THE MODELS ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH SURFACE-PRESSURE GRADIENTS ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR TIGHTENING THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...THEN AGAIN WEDNESDAY. THE NAM MET GUIDANCE FOR EDWARDS AFB HAS BORDERLINE WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA AT 00Z WEDNESDAY AND 03Z THURSDAY. THE 06Z NAM-12 HAS AN 850-MB 45-KT JET MAX DROPPING INTO THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS BY 03Z WEDNESDAY...WITH A 35-KT JET MAX OVER THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS AT 700 MB. ANOTHER 45-KT JET MAX AT 850 MB IS FORECAST TO MOVE OVER THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS WEDNESDAY EVENING... ALTHOUGH THIS LOW-LEVEL JET MAX DOES NOT HAVE THE 700-MB SUPPORT THAT THE JET MAX THIS EVENING HAS. WILL ISSUE A WIND ADVISORY FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS FROM 18Z TODAY THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY. SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW OVER THE NORTHERN TIP OF VANCOUVER ISLAND THIS MORNING. THE LOW IS FORECAST TO OPEN AND MOVE EAST ALONG THE U.S.-CANADIAN BORDER TODAY...PULLING THE TROUGH WITH IT. THIS WILL RESULT IN CLEARING BY THIS AFTERNOON WITH A FEW DEGREES WARMER TEMPERATURES. ANOTHER LOW IS FORECAST TO MOVE OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA TO WEST OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS BY 00Z THURSDAY...THEN FOLLOW A SIMILAR TRAJECTORY TO TODAY/S LOW. THIS WILL KEEP A NEARLY ZONAL FLOW OVER CALIFORNIA WITH ONLY A COUPLE OF DEGREES WARMING WEDNESDAY. THURSDAY WILL BE A TRANSITIONAL DAY...AS THE FLOW BEGINS TO BUCKLE AND AN UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE FORMS ALONG THE COAST. THE RIDGE WILL BUILD INTO CALIFORNIA FRIDAY...WHICH WILL BE THE WARMEST DAY OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. BEYOND FRIDAY...THE MEDIUM-RANGE MODELS DISAGREE. THE ECMWF AND DGEX BRING A WEAK UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH INTO CALIFORNIA SUNDAY...WHILE THE GFS HAS A WEAK UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WITH TEMPERATURES APPROACHING 90 IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. HPC FAVORS THE ECMWF... SO HAVE COOLED TEMPERATURES SUNDAY...WITH WARMING MONDAY AS THE TROUGH MOVES EAST. && .AVIATION...AREAS OF MVFR CEILINGS AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERRA AND TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS WITH LIGHT RAIN POSSIBLE FROM FRESNO COUNTY NORTH THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY...THEN VFR THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ELSEWHERE IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... NONE && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 11 PM PDT WEDNESDAY FOR CAZ095-098-099. && PUBLIC...BINGHAM AVN/FW...BEAN WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
Event by event
2 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert
- When
- May 6, 3:17 PM PST to 11:14 PM PST
- Where
- Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
- Measured
- 49 kt (56 mph) measured gust
- Property damage
- $1,000
- Reported by
- Mesonet
What these are
- Strong Wind
- Non-thunderstorm winds below high wind criteria that nonetheless caused damage or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Wildfire in California, May 5 to 20, 2009
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Arkansas, May 5 to 7, 2009
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in North Carolina, May 5, 2009
- Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Mississippi, May 5 to 6, 2009
- Heavy Rain in California, May 5, 2009
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in Mississippi, May 5 to 6, 2009
- Wildfire in Arizona, May 5 to 7, 2009
- Flooding in Kentucky, May 5 to 26, 2009
- Hail in Texas, May 5, 2009
- Flash Flood and Flood in North Carolina, May 5, 2009
- Hail and Lightning Strike in South Carolina, May 5, 2009
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Florida, May 5, 2009
More
Every storm in California in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 2009
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: 176466, 176469.