March began with an upper-level ridge over the central California interior. The ridge kept a low-level inversion over the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, resulting in patchy Tule fog for the first day of the month, mainly near Hanford and Visalia.
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.
March began with an upper-level ridge over the central California interior. The ridge kept a low-level inversion over the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, resulting in patchy Tule fog for the first day of the month, mainly near Hanford and Visalia. The ridge was not over the state long, however, as an upper-level trough reach the state the next day, bringing the first, and largest, precipitation event of March to the region.
This was a two-part storm, with the first and weaker system arriving on the 2nd, with the stronger system reaching the central California interior the next day. The first system brought up to 9 inches of new snow to the Southern Sierra Nevada in Yosemite National Park and in Madera County, while the focus of the second system was further south. Up to a foot of new snow fell on the Tulare County Mountains above 6000 feet on March 3rd, and up to 5 inches fell in the Tehachapi Mountains. As the second storm moved through the Kern County deserts, it caused gusts up to 58 mph during the evening of the 3rd and through much of the 4th.
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 Mar 2, 1:31 AM PST, 5 hours 11 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 131 AM PST TUE MAR 2 2010 .SYNOPSIS... HIGH CLOUDS IN STORE TODAY AS NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES THE COAST. EXPECT SOME SHOWERS IN THE AREA TODAY AND WEDNESDAY, THEN AGAIN ON SATURDAY. && .DISCUSSION...MONTEREY RADAR SHOWS THE LEADING EDGE OF THE PRECIPITATION NOW JUST APPROACHING THE BAY AREA FROM THE WEST AND SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES THE MAIN FRONTAL BAND IS SLOWING JUST A LITTLE AS IT APPROACHES THE COAST. GIVEN THIS, IT APPEARS THAT THIS FIRST WAVE WILL MOVE INTO AND ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA LATER THIS MORNING AND EXIT BY LATE THIS EVENING. MODEL FORECAST PRECIPITATION TOTALS FROM THIS FIRST WAVE RANGE FROM AROUND .60" AT YOSEMITE VALLEY TO UNDER .25" AT SEQUOIA PARK. TOPOGRAPHY MAY HELP ENHANCE THESE AMOUNTS SOMEWHAT THUS A 5-10 INCH SNOWFALL IS LIKELY AT ELEVATIONS ABOVE 5000 FEET BEGINNING BY MID DAY. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW HAS BEEN ISSUE FOR THE SIERRA ABOVE 5000 FEET IN RESPONSE. FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, FORECAST QPF RANGES FROM AROUND .60 INCHES AT MERCED TO JUST A FEW HUNDREDTHS AT BAKERSFIELD PER THE NAM12 MODEL. THE USUALLY MORE GENEROUS GFS MODEL HAS AMOUNTS FROM .80" TO 0.05" FROM MERCED TO BAKERSFIELD. THIS FIRST WAVE WILL BE QUICKLY FOLLOWED BY A CLOSED LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM NOW DIVING SOUTHEAST FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA AND ON SCHEDULE TO ARRIVE ABOUT MID DAY ON WEDNESDAY OVER THE NORTH AND THEN SPREAD SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS FEATURE HAS MORE COLD AIR AND THUS MORE INSTABILITY AND LOWER SNOW LEVELS. GIVEN THIS, I HAVE INCLUDED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORM WORDING FOR MUCH OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND FOOTHILLS FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THOUGH JUST AFTER SUNSET. THE COLDEST AND MOST UNSTABLE AIR WILL LIKELY STAY JUST TO THE NORTH OF FRESNO WHERE THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE GREATEST. AS FOR ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL, THE WEDNESDAY FEATURE WILL HAVE LOWER SNOW LEVELS TO AS LOW AS 3500 FEET HOWEVER AGAIN, IT LOOKS LIKE SNOWFALL TOTALS FROM THIS STORM WILL RANGE FROM 6-12 INCHES GIVING A TOTAL FROM THE TWO SYSTEMS 12-24 INCHES ABOVE 5000 FEET. WILL KEEP THE SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT IN EFFECT FOR THE WEDNESDAY SYSTEM ALTHOUGH ANOTHER WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY WILL LIKELY HAVE TO BE ISSUED. FOR THE LATE WEEK AND WEEKEND FORECAST TIME PERIOD, THE GFS MODEL IS NOW BEGINNING TO TREND MORE SLOWLY WITH THE INCOMING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM. THIS TREND IS MATCHING UP BETTER WITH THE SEVERAL PREVIOUS RUNS OF THE ECMWF MODEL WHICH HAS PROJECTED A SLOWER, MORE OFFSHORE APPROACH AND A DELAYED ONSHORE "PUSH" UNTIL SATURDAY. WILL LEAVE THE GRIDS AS IS FOR NOW AND SEE HOW THE 12Z RUN OF THE MODELS CHANGES THINGS. && .AVIATION... IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND ADJACENT FOOTHILLS...LOCAL MVFR CONDITIONS IN MIST THROUGH 15Z TODAY AND IN PRECIPITATION AFTER 18Z TODAY. OTHERWISE VFR WILL PREVAIL THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. IN THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS...VFR THROUGH 18Z TODAY THEN BECOMING MAINLY MVFR WITH AREAS OF IFR BETWEEN 18Z TODAY AND 00Z WEDNESDAY CONTINUING THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. IN THE KERN COUNTY DESERTS...VFR THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... NONE && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM NOON TODAY TO MIDNIGHT PST TONIGHT ABOVE 5000 FEET FOR THE CAZ096-097. && PUBLIC...DUDLEY AVN/FW...DS SYNOPSIS...TLM WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 228 AM PST TUE MAR 2 2010 CAZ096-097-030800- SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON- TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 228 AM PST TUE MAR 2 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA. .DAY ONE...TODAY A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY UNTIL MIDNIGHT PST TONIGHT ABOVE 5000 FEET. FOR MORE INFO PLEASE SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN HANFORD AT /SFOWSWHNX/ OR /WWUS46 KHNX/ FOR DETAILS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY 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. TLM WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 203 AM PST TUE MAR 2 2010 CAZ093>097-021830- MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS- TULARE COUNTY FOOTHILLS-KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS- SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON- TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 203 AM PST TUE MAR 2 2010 ...A SECOND AND COLDER WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY... THE SECOND IN A PAIR OF PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL MOVE ACROSS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY MORNING BRINGING MORE SNOW TO THE SIERRA AT ELEVATIONS AS LOW AS 3500 FEET...RAIN AND EVEN THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE FOOTHILLS AND SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. AFTER TODAY'S FIRST WEATHER SYSTEM MOVES EAST OF THE REGION TONIGHT... RAIN AND SNOW WILL AGAIN INCREASE WITH THE SECOND SYSTEM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ANOTHER 6-12 INCHES OF SNOW WILL FALL OVER THE MOUNTAINS WITH THE GREATEST ACCUMULATION ABOVE 4500 FEET. SNOW IS NOT EXPECTED ON THE KERN COUNTY PASSES INCLUDING THE GRAPEVINE AND TEHACHAPI PASS. ANOTHER AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE TOWARD CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. THERE IS CONSIDERABLE UNCERTAINTY IN THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM...AND HENCE A GREAT DEAL OF UNCERTAINTY IN WHEN OR HOW MUCH PRECIPITATION MAY OCCUR. DUDLEY WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter weather, 2 strong wind, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Twenty four hour storm total rainfall 1.75 inches. The Highway Patrol reported a mudslide on North Fork Road near Three Rivers. The slide blocked the highway in both directions for about two hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 2010
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: 222877, 222624, 222625, 222626, 222631, 222632.