The new year (and decade) began with the latest in a series of Pacific storms that stretched back to December 17th, 2010. This storm brought strong, gusty winds to the region, especially to the base of the Grapevine, where gusts up to 89 mph were recorded on January 2nd.
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 new year (and decade) began with the latest in a series of Pacific storms that stretched back to December 17th, 2010. This storm brought strong, gusty winds to the region, especially to the base of the Grapevine, where gusts up to 89 mph were recorded on January 2nd. Snow fell on both the Grapevine and Tehachapi Pass, closing both routes between the San Joaquin Valley and southern California. Unlike the storms in December, this storm was focused more on Fresno, Kings, and Tulare counties, Fresno recorded 1.51 inch of rain on January 1st-2nd, while Bakersfield only received 0.16 inch. This was a cold storm, with the snow level falling to around 2500 feet. With the San Joaquin Valley floor and the lower foothills saturated from the record rains of the latter half of December, flood watches were posted for the New Year’s Day holiday weekend.
As the night of January 1st-2nd progressed, wind gusts to 50 mph were recorded in the far south end of the San Joaquin Valley, at the base of the Grapevine. Over an inch of snow had fallen in Squirrel Valley--at 2700 feet in the hills above Lake Isabella--by 9:45 PM. The winds at the base of the Grapevine continued through the 2nd, with a peak wind of 89 mph recorded during the afternoon. Several roads on the San Joaquin Valley floor flooded due to runoff from locally heavy rains onto the saturated ground. In the Tehachapi Mountains, heavy snow closed Interstate 5 over the Grapevine (a total of 8 inches of snow fell at Lebec), and 52 cars were stuck on Highway 168 in the Southern Sierra Nevada at the 7000 foot level near Kaiser Point. Snow even fell in the Kern County deserts, with Ridgecrest reporting accumulating snow and snow falling at Edwards Air Force Base. The CHP reported numerous vehicles stuck on ice-covered southbound Hwy 395 just south of the junction with Hwy 178 and on northbound Hwy 395 just south of Ridgecrest Boulevard. A trained weather spotter in Ridgecrest measured 4 inches of new snow. The fire department in Mojave measured 4 inches. The fire department in California City measured 7 inches. The fire department in Randsburg measured 5 inches of the white stuff. The CHP reported vehicle stuck in the snow on Garlock Road just east of southbound Hwy 395.
The upper-level low moved south to off Point Conception on January 3rd. This kept a southerly flow over the Tehachapi Mountains, with advisory-level winds continuing at the base of the Grapevine. Although the precipitation had mostly ended, lingering runoff continued to create flooding hazards.
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 Jan 2, 4:22 AM PST, 2 hours 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 422 AM PST SUN JAN 2 2011 .SYNOPSIS... VALLEY RAIN AND HIGHER ELEVATION SNOW EXPECTED OVER THE WEEKEND. HIGH PRESSURE TAKES OVER BY MID WEEK, PRODUCING CLEAR SKIES WITH PATCHY MORNING FOG AND SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPERATURES FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. && .DISCUSSION...STACKED LOW NEAR THE CENTRAL CA COAST WILL LINGER THRU MUCH OF THE DAY. BAROCLINIC LEAF DEVELOPED NICELY OVERNITE ACROSS THE INTERIOR...PRETTY MUCH AS DEPICTED ON THE EURO THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. STRONG UVM HAS ALREADY PRODUCED RAINFALL EXCEEDING AN INCH IN PLACES. A SMALL PLUME OF 1 INCH TPW ASSOCIATED WITH THE OCCLUDING FRONT ALONG THE COAST WILL BRING AN ADDITIONAL 1-2 INCHES OF RAIN TODAY...AND UPGRADED THE FLOOD WATCH TO A WARNING FOR THE CENTRAL SJV AND ADJACENT FOOTHILLS BELOW 4K. RAIN HAS BEEN LIGHTER OR YET TO START IN THE SOUTH VALLEY...AND LEFT THE FLOOD WATCH UP FOR NOW. BUT HERE TOO...MODERATE TO LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS MAY GRADUALLY DEVELOP THIS MORNING OR THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVELS ARE NEAR 4K IN THE NORTH...AND 3K IN THE SOUTH WHERE THE COLD SURFACE HIGH OVER THE GREAT BASIN CONTINUES TO PUSH COLD AIR INTO THE DESERTS. BIG QUESTION RIGHT NOW IS IF RAIN OR SNOW WILL DOMINATE THE DESERT REGIONS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND TONITE. SOME EROSION OF THE COLD AIR IS LIKELY...HOWEVER AS THE UPPER LOW BEGINS TO PUSH INLAND LATE TONITE...EVAPORATIVE COOLING WITH THE ONSET OF PRECIP COULD PRODUCE SOME ACCUMULATING SNOW ON THE DESERT FLOOR. SHOULD THE COLDEST AIR FAIL TO RETREAT...SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF 3-6 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE. WILL NEED TO WATCH STORM PROGRESSION FOR A WHILE LONGER TO SEE WHICH OR IF WINTER WX PRODUCTS WILL BE NEEDED ACROSS THE HIGH DESERT. IN THE SRN SIERRA THE HEAVY SNOW WILL CONT LATE INTO THE NITE...WITH STORM TOTALS FROM 1-3 FEET LIKELY ABOVE 4K. AN UPSTREAM SHORTWAVE TROF IS NEAR 135W. THIS SHORTWAVE WILL BE THE KICKING FORCE TO PUSH THE COASTAL LOW INLAND ACROSS SOCAL LATE TONITE OR MON MORNING. THIS WILL BRING DECREASING PRECIP TO THE REGION FROM NORTH TO SOUTH MON. AS THE MAIN UPPER LOW IS FORCED INLAND...A SECONDARY COASTAL LOW IS FCST TO DEVELOP AND CUT OFF NEAR 130W35N MON EVE AS AN UPPER RIDGE NOSES IN OVER THE PAC NW AND NORCAL TUES. THIS RIDGE THEN MIGRATES INTO TO THE GREAT BASIN BY THURS. THIS WILL BRING DRY WEATHER AND A WARMING TREND TO CENTRAL CA BY MID WEEK...LASTING INTO FRI. MAY SEE AN INCREASE IN VALLEY FOG BY WED MORNING...ALTHOUGH AN OFFSHORE FLOW MAY KEEP IT MINIMIZED AS THE LOWER LEVELS DRY OUT. FOR NEXT WEEKEND...MODELS NOT VERY CONSISTENT ON WESTERLIES SAGGING SOUTH BACK INTO CA SAT-SUN OR NOT. FOR NOW...CONTINUED PREV FCST OF A SHORTWAVE POSSIBLY BRINGING A SMALL CHANCE OF PRECIP TO THE NORTH PARTS OF THE REGION...OTHERWISE CONTINUED DRY. && .AVIATION... A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OFF THE CENTRAL COAST WILL MOVE SLOWLY INLAND. THIS SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION AND MOUNTAIN OBSCURATIONS OVER THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA AND TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THE AFTERNOON TOWARDS THE NORTH PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL VALLEY. STRONG GUSTY WINDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAIN PASSES ESPECIALLY PASSES AT THE SOUTH END OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY THROUGH 00Z. ELSEWHERE MAINLY VFR WITH AREAS OF MVFR IN CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION THROUGH 12Z MONDAY. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... NONE && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WARNING BELOW 4000 FEET UNTIL 245 AM PST MONDAY CAC019-039-043-047. WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST MONDAY CAZ096-097. FLOOD WATCH THROUGH LATE TONIGHT BELOW 3000 FEET FOR THE CAZ095. WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 6 PM PST MONDAY ABOVE 2000 FEET FOR THE CAZ095. FLOOD WATCH THROUGH LATE TONIGHT CAZ091-092-094. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE GRAPEVINE IN THE CAZ092. WINTER STORM WATCH FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON CAZ098-099. && PUBLIC...BINGHAM AVN/FW...MV SYNOPSIS...WP WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 630 AM PST SUN JAN 2 2011 CAZ089>099-031330- WEST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-EAST CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-SOUTHEASTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- MARIPOSA MADERA AND FRESNO COUNTY FOOTHILLS- TULARE COUNTY FOOTHILLS-KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS- SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON- TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-INDIAN WELLS VALLEY- SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT- 630 PM PST SUN JAN 2 2011 ...WINTER STORM IN PROGRESS ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR ALL OF INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A STORM LOCATED NEAR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST WILL PRODUCE A VARIETY OF WINTER WEATHER ACROSS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA TODAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND THE ADJACENT FOOTHILLS BELOW 4000 FEET...MAY PRODUCE URBAN AND LOW LAND FLOODING DUE TO THE ALREADY SATURATED GROUND CONDITIONS. FLOOD WATCHES AND WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT FOR THESE AREAS AT LEAST INTO THIS EVENING. PLEASE SEE SFOFFAHNX/WGUS66 KHNX OR SFOFLWHNX/WGUS46 KHNX FOR DETAILS. HEAVY MOUNTAIN SNOW...AND THE THREAT OF ACCUMULATING SNOW IN THE HIGH DESERT ARE COVERED IN WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES. PLEASE SEE SFOWSWHNX/WWUS46 KHNX FOR DETAILS. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 AM PST MONDAY FOR THE BASE OF THE GRAPEVINE. FOR DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO THE WEATHER MESSAGE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN HANFORD /SFONPWHNX OR WWUS76 KHNX/. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY RAIN AND SNOW WILL TAPER OFF EARLY MONDAY EXCEPT POSSIBLY THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION...INCLUDING KERN COUNTY. DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED TUESDAY INTO THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. .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. SANGER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
12 flood, 5 winter storm, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Water up to 3 feet deep on roads near Santa Lucia Drive and Manresa.
Local TV broadcasters reported flooding in the town of Strathmore.
Kern County estimated damage from the storms of December 17th to January 2nd at 12.7 million dollars.
Damage to Delano schools from the storms of December 17th to January 2nd estimated at 800,000 dollars.
CHP reported water and mud flooding the slow lane of westbound State Route 168 just west of Bullard Road.
The CHP reported flooding on Avenue 13 at Road 30.
The CHP reported flooding on Avenue 24 at Road 10.
The CHP reported a mudslide on State Route 190 just west of Pierpoint Drive.
Local TV broadcaster reported flooding in the town of Orosi. Water was reported 1 foot deep.
Four and a half (4.5) million dollars estimated damage to Tulare County roads from December 17th to Jjanuary 2nd storms.
CHP reported State Route 269 closed between State Route 198 and Huron due to flooding.
The CHP reported the Orange Belt Highway closed between Avenue 188 and Avenue 194 due to flooding.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2011
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: 281592, 281593, 281609, 281594, 281595, 281604, 281605, 281606, 281607, 281608, 281596, 281597, 281598, 281599, 281600, 281601, 281602, 281603.