A Pacific Storm brought high winds and high surf to Northern and Central California.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 MTR wrote it up.
A Pacific Storm brought high winds and high surf to Northern and Central California.
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 San Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 19, 9:50 PM PST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
950 PM PST WED JAN 19 2011
.DISCUSSION...AS OF 7:45 PM PST WEDNESDAY...SKIES REMAIN MAINLY CLEAR
DUE TO A DRY AIRMASS SITTING OVER THE AREA. HIGH PRESSURE IS PARKED
OVER NORTHERN NEVADA WITH AN EXTENSION WEST ACROSS NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA. THIS PATTERN WILL HOLD THROUGH TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. THE
END RESULT...OFFSHORE DIRECTED WIND FLOW WITH AREAS OF GUSTY WINDS IN
THE NORTH AND EAST BAY HILLS TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. THE PROBABILITY OF
FOG IS QUITE LOW DUE TO LOWER HUMIDITIES AND LIGHT MIXING WINDS.
TEMPERATURES WILL CLIMB UPWARDS A FEW DEGREES ON THURSDAY AS 850 MB
REACH AROUND 15C. MID 60S TO MID 70S WILL RESULT. SKIES WILL BE SUNNY
TO MOSTLY SUNNY.
A MID LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL REMAIN PARKED OVER THE EASTERN
PACIFIC THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK AND THIS WEEKEND. DRY WEATHER IS
VERY LIKELY TO EXTEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK.
NO UPDATES ARE PLANNED TONIGHT.
&&
.AVIATION...AS OF 9:45 PM WEDNESDAY...FOR 06Z TAFS. VFR CONDITIONS
WITH LIGHT WINDS THROUGH THE NEXT 24-36 HOURS. DRY AIR HAS FILTERED
OVER THE REGION WITH OFFSHORE WIND FLOW. MODEL CROSS SECTIONS SHOW
VERY DRY AIR ALOFT. SURFACE DEWPOINTS ARE TRENDING DRIER.
VICINITY OF KSFO...VFR CONDITIONS. MAINLY CLEAR SKIES WITH LIGHT
WINDS.
KSFO BRIDGE APPROACH...SIMILAR TO KSFO.
MONTEREY BAY AREA TERMINALS...VFR CONDITIONS. MAINLY CLEAR SKIES
WITH LIGHT WINDS.
&&
.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
.TNGT...SCA...POINT ARENA TO PIGEON POINT 10 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE
SCA...PIGEON PT TO PT PIEDRAS BLANCAS 0 TO 60 NM OFFSHORE
UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
&&
PUBLIC FORECAST: RC
AVIATION/MARINE: RWWThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 strong wind, 1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree felled by high winds crushed a car in Oakland during the early morning hours.
A thirty year old male big-wave surfer was injured attempting to surf at Mavericks, a well known big wave surf area 25 miles south of San Francisco near Half Moon Bay.
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: 277340, 277351.