Winter Weather, Kern Cty Mtns
- When
- April 28, 12:00 PM PST to April 29, 9:00 AM PST
- Where
- Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- Law Enforcement
High Wind and Winter Weather in California, April 28 to 29, 2010
The fourth, and final, storm of the month reached interior central California on April 27th. This was a drier storm than the previous ones, but up to a foot on new snow fell over the high country of the Southern Sierra Nevada, and as much as 4 inches of new snow fell as far south as the Tehachapi Mountains.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $200,000
- 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.
The fourth, and final, storm of the month reached interior central California on April 27th. This was a drier storm than the previous ones, but up to a foot on new snow fell over the high country of the Southern Sierra Nevada, and as much as 4 inches of new snow fell as far south as the Tehachapi Mountains. The freezing level fell below 4000 feet on Interstate 5 around sunrise on April 29th. Black ice formed on the higher elevations of the Grapevine, and the California Highway Patrol also reported hail or snow pellets covering the road. Numerous accidents between 6 AM and 7 AM resulted in Interstate 5 begin closed over the Grapevine for a few hours.
In addition to the rain and mountain snow, the storm brought another round of strong wind gusts to the Kern County Mountains and deserts. Gusts to 78 mph were reported near the Walker Pass, and gusts to around 55 mph occurred in the Kern County deserts. The California Highway Patrol reported a rolled semi truck on highway 395 near Pearsonville.
April proved to be a much wetter than normal month. This is typical of a strong El Nino pattern, although the low snow levels were not. The storms of April atypically entrained cold Arctic air as well as Pacific moisture, resulting in snow falling into the Southern Sierra Nevada foothills. Typically, strong El Ninos are dominated by warm subtropical moisture fetches, with high snow levels.
April also was a much colder than normal month, with both Bakersfield and Fresno seeing their average temperatures for the month rank among the 15 coldest Aprils on record. Bakersfield tied for its 12th coldest April, with an average temperature of 58.7 degrees. Fresno had its 14th coldest April, with an average temperature of 57.7 degrees.
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 Apr 28, 9:29 AM PST, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 9:29 AM PST, 2 hours 31 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 1029 AM PDT WED APR 28 2010 .SYNOPSIS... A UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE CONTINUES TO MOVE OVER THE AREA TODAY BRINGING A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. ALSO EXPECT WINDY CONDITIONS IN THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERT THROUGH TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL BE QUITE COOL FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK...HOWEVER HIGH PRESSURE WILL RETURN AND START A WARMING TREND BY LATER THIS WEEKEND. && .UPDATE...STRONG ONSHORE FLOW RESULTING IN LOTS OF UPSLOPE CLOUDS ALONG THE SIERRA FOOTHILLS TEHACHAPIS AND SOUTH VALLEY. SURPRISINGLY HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA MAINLY CLEAR DUE TO A MID LEVEL STABLE LAYER 8-11KFT. ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AS UPPER SHORT WAVE ENERGY MOVES TOWARDS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. LEADING SHOWER ACTIVITY ALREADY MOVING INTO WEST MERCED COUNTY. MODELS INDICATE MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES LAYERS BECOMING UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. HOWEVER CAPES OF NEAR 100JKG WILL BE LIMITED TOWARDS THE CENTRAL VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON. THINK LITTLE THREAT OF THUNDER WITH MAINLY CONVECTIVE SHOWER THREAT THIS AFTERNOON. DEEP CONVECTIVE GROWTH WILL BE LIMITED BY STRONG STRAIGHT LINE SHEAR AND POTENTIAL STORM TOP GROWTH TO 15KFT. SHOWERS COULD PROVIDE SMALL HAIL AS WET BULB IS LOW AROUND 4KFT. THINK STORM THREAT WITH SHOWERS WILL BE LOCAL HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL AND STRONG DOWN BURST WIND GUSTS. NO UPDATES PLANNED THIS MORNING. .DISCUSSION...THE COLD FRONT HAS JUST ABOUT CLEARED CENTRAL CA AND WILL BE OVER SOCAL BY DAYBREAK. WHAT LOOKED LIKE A SOLID RAIN PRODUCER YESTERDAY AT THIS TIME...WEAKENED CONSIDERABLY YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS ITS UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT RACED OFF TO THE EAST. FEW PLACES OUTSIDE OF THE SRN SIERRA SAW ANY PRECIP. BUT ALL HOPE OF RAIN IS NOT GONE. THE CURRENT PATTERN WILL EVOLVE INTO A BROAD UPPER LEVEL LONG WAVE TROF OVER THE WEST HALF OF THE COUNTRY THE NEXT 2 DAYS. A SHORTWAVE MOVING INTO THE MEAN TROF POSITION WAS CURRENTLY NEARING 130W. THIS CAN BE SEEN ON SAT PIX IN THE INCREASING OPEN CU FIELD APPROACHING THE WEST COAST. SOME OF THIS ENERGY WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL CA THIS AFTN...AND PRODUCE SOME SCATTERED SHOWER ACTIVITY IN THE VALLEY...WITH MORE NUMEROUS SHOWERS IN THE SIERRA. ALLOWED THE WINTER WX ADVISORY TO GO AWAY THIS MORNING...AS ANY SNOWFALL TODAY WILL BE FAIRLY LOCALIZED AND IN THE 6 INCH OR LESS RANGE. WINDS WILL BE ON THE INCREASE TODAY...AND WILL INCREASE TO WARNING CRITERIA THROUGH AND BELOW WIND FAVORED PASSES AND CANYONS OF KERN COUNTY LATE MORNING OR EARLY AFTN. BREEZY IN THE VALLEY TODAY BUT DONT EXPECT WINDS TO REACH OR EXCEED 35 MPH ADVISORY LEVEL. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY ABATE THIS EVE...BUT COULD PICK UP AGAIN THURS AFTN. TEMPS TODAY MUCH COOLER THAN YESTERDAY...AND SOME PLACES MAY HAVE THEIR HIGH FOR THE DAY EARLY THIS MORNING...WITH STEADY OR FALLING TEMPS DURING THE AFTERNOON DEPENDING ON CLOUD COVER AND/OR PRECIP. THE UPPER TROF WILL KEEP A MAINLY DRY N-NW FLOW ALOFT OVER CENTRAL CA AT LEAST INTO SAT. WEAK DISTURBANCES IN THE FLOW COULD HOWEVER PRODUCE A FEW SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE SIERRA THRU FRI. THE UPPER LOW WILL BEGIN TO WEAKEN AND MOVE FARTHER EAST OVER THE WEEKEND. A LARGE UPPER LONG WAVE RIDGE IN THE EAST PAC ALONG 140W WILL THEN BEGIN TO NUDGE ITS WAY EAST. THIS WILL BRING A WARMING TREND STARTING SAT...AND TEMPS COULD BE BACK TO NEAR SEASONAL AVERAGE SUN AND/OR MON. MODELS DIFFER IN RIDGE STRENGTH OR LACK OF...EARLY NEXT WEEK. BASICALLY KEPT PREV FCST OF NEAR NORMAL TEMPS AND DRY WX INTO WED...THOUGH THERE COULD BE SOME UP AND DOWN TRENDS FOR TEMPS. && .AVIATION... AREAS OF MVFR AND LOCAL IFR IN UPSLOPE OVER THE VALLEY FACING SLOPES OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OVER THE AREA THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY. A VIGOROUS PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEM WILL HOWEVER BRING VERY STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS TO THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA...KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERT AREAS THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... NONE && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING CAZ095-098-099. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL NOON PDT TODAY CAZ095-098-099. && PUBLIC...MV AVN/FW...BEAN SYNOPSIS...BSO WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 28, 4:25 AM PST, 7 hours 35 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 525 AM PDT WED APR 28 2010 CAZ095-098-099-291230- KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INDIAN WELLS VALLEY- SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT- 525 AM PDT WED APR 28 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PDT TODAY. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST /WWUS76 KHNX/ OR /SFONPWHNX/ FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .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. WP WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
Event by event
1 winter weather, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High Wind, Indian Wells Vly
- When
- April 28, 3:00 PM PST to 7:00 PM PST
- Where
- Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
- Measured
- 55 kt (63 mph) estimated gust
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- Law Enforcement
What these are
- Winter Weather
- Snow, sleet or freezing rain below warning levels that still caused disruption, damage or casualties.
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Dust Storm and High Wind in Arizona, April 28 to 29, 2010
- Frost and Freeze in Kentucky, April 28, 2010
- High Wind in North Dakota, April 28, 2010
- Winter Storm in Montana, April 28 to 30, 2010
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Colorado, April 28 to 30, 2010
- High Wind in New Mexico, April 28 to 29, 2010
- Dust Storm and High Wind in Arizona, April 28 to 29, 2010
- High Wind and Strong Wind in Arizona, April 28, 2010
- Winter Weather in Utah, April 28 to 30, 2010
- Heavy Snow in Montana, April 28 to 30, 2010
- Frost and Freeze in Connecticut, April 28, 2010
- High Wind in Wyoming, April 28, 2010
More
Every storm in California in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2010
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: 227245, 227246.