High Wind, Kern Cty Mtns
- When
- February 2, 4:38 AM PST to 10:35 AM PST
- Where
- Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
- Measured
- 62 kt (71 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
High Wind and Frost and Freeze in California, February 2 to 3, 2011
February began dry and relatively cool due to a northerly flow aloft and an upper-level ridge anchored off the West Coast. Some patches of dense fog formed throughout the San Joaquin Valley during the evening of January 31st, but had dissipated by mid-morning on the 1st.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 5
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.
February began dry and relatively cool due to a northerly flow aloft and an upper-level ridge anchored off the West Coast. Some patches of dense fog formed throughout the San Joaquin Valley during the evening of January 31st, but had dissipated by mid-morning on the 1st. Skies over the San Joaquin Valley were mostly clear, except for stratocumulus clouds banked against the foothills and lower elevations of the southern Sierra Nevada. High pressure remained off the coast through the 3rd, and the circulation around the high allowed cooler and drier air to filter into|central California from the Great Basin. This kept skies mostly clear throughout the central California interior.
On the 4th through the 7th, the offshore high pressure built onshore. Temperatures warmed to above normal values with mostly clear skies prevailing throughout the region. Temperatures reached the upper 60s to mid 70s in the San Joaquin Valley and the Kern County deserts on the 6th and 7th. A dry upper-level short-wave trough moved through California on February 6th. This short-wave brought gusty winds to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and to the Indian Wells Valley, but had no impact on temperatures.
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 Feb 2, 3:15 AM PST, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 2, 3:15 AM PST, 1 hour 23 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 315 AM PST WED FEB 2 2011 .SYNOPSIS... COLDER AIR FLOWING FROM THE NORTH IS EXPECTED OVER THE REGION FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. FROSTY CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE IN MUCH OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY DURING THE NEXT TWO NIGHTS...SOME LOCALES MAY REACH A FEW DEGREES BELOW FREEZING TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. BY THE END OF THE WEEK...HIGH PRESSURE IS FORECASTED OVER THE AREA WITH A RETURN OF VALLEY FOG. && .DISCUSSION...AN UPPER LOW NEAR THE 4-CORNERS REGION AND LONGWAVE RIDGE JUST OFF THE WEST COAST IS PRODUCING A DRY N-NE FLOW ACROSS CENTRAL CA. MUCH COLDER AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRONG 1040+ MB SURFACE HIGH OVER THE NRN AND CENTRAL ROCKIES/GREAT BASIN HAS YET TO MAKE MUCH INROAD INTO THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR. HOWEVER DEW PTS ARE DOWN SOME 15-30 DEGS ACROSS THE MTNS AND HIGH DESERTS AS SOME OF THIS DRY AIR WILL FILTER INTO THE SJV OVER TIME. THIS WILL BRING A CHILLY NIGHT TONIGHT EVERYWHERE...WITH SUBZERO READINGS IN THE HIGH SIERRA...SOME TEENS AND 20S IN THE DESERTS...AND EVEN A FEW UPPER 20S TO THE SJV. AREAS OF FROST ARE LIKELY IN THE VALLEY TONITE...WITH PATCHY FROST AGAIN THURS NITE. WHILE TONITE WILL BE THE COOLEST NIGHT IN ABOUT 4 WEEKS...ITS CERTAINLY NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY FOR EARLY FEB. THE UPPER RIDGE OFF THE COAST WILL GRADUALLY EXPAND INLAND THE NEXT 24-48 HRS. THIS WILL BRING A MODERATING TEMP TREND...BUT IT WILL ALSO STRENGTHEN THE VALLEY INVERSION WITH TIME. WARMING WILL BEGIN MOST AREAS THURS AND CONT FRI AND SAT...THEN LITTLE CHANGE IS SEEN INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE EXCEPTION TO THE WARMING WILL BE THE VALLEY...WHERE NITE AND MORNING FOG WILL BE ON THE INCREASE. AND...IT COULD BECOME INCREASINGLY HARD FOR AFTERNOON BURNOFF BY THE WEEKEND. && .AVIATION... AREAS OF MVFR AND LOCAL IFR/LIFR IN LOW CLOUDS AND MIST/FOG IS POSSIBLE IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNTIL 18Z WEDNESDAY AND AGAIN AFTER 06Z THURSDAY. VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 2 2011... FIREPLACE/WOOD STOVE BURNING IS PROHIBITED IN FRESNO... KERN AND MADERA COUNTIES. FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT VALLEYAIR.ORG && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && PUBLIC...BINGHAM AVN/FW...DCH SYNOPSIS...TLM WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 2, 3:30 AM PST, 1 hour 8 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 330 AM PST WED FEB 2 2011 CAZ089>092-021330- WEST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-EAST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- 330 AM PST WED FEB 2 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT OR UNUSUAL CONDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Feb 2, 4:25 AM PST, 13 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 425 AM PST WED FEB 2 2011 CAZ089>092-021400- WEST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-EAST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- 425 AM PST WED FEB 2 2011 ...PATCHY DENSE FOG... SATELLITE AND SURFACE REPORTS SHOW A SMALL AREA OF DENSE FOG DEVELOPING FROM HANFORD TO DELANO. THIS INCLUDES PARTS OF HIGHWAY 198 BETWEEN HANFORD AND VISALIA...HIGHWAY 43 FROM HANFORD TO WASCO...AND HIGHWAY 99 BETWEEN TULARE AND DELANO. FURTHER FOG DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS IS POSSIBLE BEFORE SUNRISE. MOTORISTS EARLY THIS MORNING SHOULD BE ALERT FOR FOG...ESPECIALLY IN RURAL AREAS. USE CAUTION AND SLOW DOWN IF YOU ENCOUNTER DENSE FOG. PUT YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON LOW BEAM...AND KEEP EXTRA DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU. BINGHAM WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
Event by event
4 frost/freeze, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Frost/Freeze, W Central S.J. Valley
- When
- February 3, 2:00 AM PST to 9:00 AM PST
- Where
- W Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- Mesonet
Frost/Freeze, E Central S.J. Valley
- When
- February 3, 2:00 AM PST to 9:00 AM PST
- Where
- E Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- Mesonet
Frost/Freeze, Sw S.J. Valley
- When
- February 3, 2:00 AM PST to 9:00 AM PST
- Where
- Sw S.J. Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- Mesonet
Frost/Freeze, Se S.J. Valley
- When
- February 3, 2:00 AM PST to 9:00 AM PST
- Where
- Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
- Reported by
- Mesonet
What these are
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
- Frost/Freeze
- Frost or temperatures at or below freezing during the growing season, usually filed for crop damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Extreme Cold and Frost and Freeze in Arizona, February 2 to 3, 2011
- Winter Weather in Minnesota, February 2, 2011
- Cold in Illinois, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Frost and Freeze in Texas, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Frost and Freeze in Arizona, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Frost and Freeze in Nevada, February 2 to 3, 2011
- Winter Storm in Vermont, February 2, 2011
- Winter Weather in Connecticut, February 2 to 4, 2011
- Winter Storm in New York, February 2, 2011
- High Wind in California, February 2 to 3, 2011
- Flood in Ohio, February 2, 2011
- Extreme Cold in New Mexico, February 2 to 3, 2011
More
Every storm in California in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2011
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: 287759, 287760, 287761, 287762, 287763.