June was certainly a month of extremes that produced near record heat in the San Joaquin Valley, many days of unseasonably cool weather, and even a day of record shattering rainfall. But probably the most profound aspect of the month was an over abundance of precipitation and late season snow in the southern Sierra.
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.
June was certainly a month of extremes that produced near record heat in the San Joaquin Valley, many days of unseasonably cool weather, and even a day of record shattering rainfall. But probably the most profound aspect of the month was an over abundance of precipitation and late season snow in the southern Sierra. In fact, June ended up being the second wettest on record in Fresno where records date back to the late 1800’s. Also, a very deep snowpack over the southern Sierra Nevada yielded|substantial snowmelt through the end of June and produced high flows along all of the rivers in the HSA.
From about mid June on, the Merced river in Yosemite National Park peaked very close to flood stage, and on a few occasions rose just above flood stage and forced several campgrounds to close because of minor flooding.
Increased snowmelt, especially from mid to late month, prompted large water releases from most of the major reservoirs which in turn produced higher than normal flows along all rivers downstream of the dams.
At the end of the month, most of the reservoirs were holding about 95 percent of their normal water capacity.
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 Jun 21, 8:10 PM PST, 5 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 910 PM PDT TUE JUN 21 2011 .SYNOPSIS... STRONG HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT BUILDING OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA IS BRINGING CLEAR SKIES AND THE FIRST 100 DEGREE READINGS OF THE SEASON OVER MUCH OF THE CENTRAL VALLEY AND HIGH DESERTS. TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN A DOWNWARD SLIDE BY FRIDAY AS THE UPPER HIGH WEAKENS...AND MARINE AIR BEGINS TO FILTER IN THROUGH THE DELTA AND COASTAL PASSES. && .UPDATE... ANOTHER HOT DAY ACROSS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AS THIS EVENINGS TEMPERATURES RUNNING SOME 3-6 DEG-F ABOVE THIS TIME MONDAY. WITH TEMPERATURES AT 900 PM PDT STILL IN THE UPPER 80S TO NEAR 90...WILL SEE A WARM NIGHT AS TEMPERATURES SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM ONLY DROPPING INTO THE MID 70S WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE CURRENT TREND IS TO HAVE WEDNESDAY AS THE WARMEST DAY BEFORE CONDITIONS BEGIN COOLING OFF. LATEST RUN OF THE SHORT RANGE MODELS STILL INDICATING THE PASSAGE OF AN UPPER LEVEL TROF ON FRIDAY WITH THE INITIAL SLIGHT COOLING ON THURSDAY. AS CONDITIONS REMAIN VERY WARM... RIVER CONCERNS FROM SNOW MELT WILL REMAIN HIGH AND WILL THEREFORE KEEP ALL FLOOD PRODUCTS IN EFFECT TONIGHT. AT THIS POINT...WILL MAKE NO UPDATES TO THE FORECAST PACKAGE. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 255 PM PDT TUE JUN 21 2011/ SUMMER IS BEGINNING ON A HOT NOTE...AS BOTH BAKERSFIELD AND FRESNO HAD REACHED 100 DEGREES BY 21Z /1400 PDT/. FOR FRESNO...THIS WAS THE FIRST 100-DEGREE DAY OF THE YEAR. SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW THE UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE OVER CALIFORNIA THIS AFTERNOON. TO THE NORTH...AN UPPER-LEVEL LOW IS JUST WEST OF THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS...ANCHORING A DRY TROUGH OVER THE EASTERN GULF OF ALASKA. THE LOW IS A BIT NORTH OF THE POSITION FORECASTED BY THE 12Z MODELS...AND THIS MAY INDICATE THAT THE TROUGH MAY NOT DIG AS FAR INTO CALIFORNIA AS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT. THE MODELS SHOW LITTLE CHANGE IN 500-MB HEIGHTS THROUGH WEDNESDAY WITH THE 5880-METER HEIGHT LINE OVER THE SACRAMENTO DELTA. THE NAM-12 WARMS 850-MB TEMPERATURES OVER FRESNO BY 0.5 C WEDNESDAY...WHILE THE GFS COOLS 850-MB TEMPERATURES BY 1 C. GFS MAV/MEX GUIDANCES HAVE BEEN RUNNING A BIT LOW...SO HAVE TRENDED TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY TOWARD THE NAM/NAM-12 AND GONE A DEGREE OR TWO WARMER THAN TODAY. THE UPPER-LEVEL LOW IS FORECAST TO MOVE OVER THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE SOUND THURSDAY...BRINGING THE TROUGH INTO CALIFORNIA. 500-MB HEIGHTS ARE FORECAST TO FALL OVER THE HANFORD WARNING/FORECAST AREA...WITH THE 500-MB 5880-METER LINE PUSHING SOUTH TO BAKERSFIELD BY 00Z FRIDAY /1700 PDT THURSDAY/. 500-MB HEIGHTS FALL BY 60 METERS OVER THE SACRAMENTO DELTA...AND SURFACE-PRESSURE GRADIENTS SHOW A DEVELOPING ON-SHORE FLOW PATTERN. TEMPERATURES OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY WILL FALL BACK INTO THE 90S FRIDAY...WITH THE AMOUNT OF COOLING OVER MERCED COUNTY DEPENDENT ON HOW DEEP THE MARINE LAYER DEVELOPS AND SPILLS THROUGH THE DELTA AND/OR PACHECO PASS. THE SATELLITE GLOBAL-COMPOSITE WATER-VAPOR LOOPS SHOW ANOTHER UPPER- LEVEL LOW NEAR 48N/170E...SOUTH OF THE TIP OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF TRACK THIS LOW EASTWARD ACROSS THE GULF OF ALASKA AND DROP IT INTO THE TROUGH SATURDAY. THIS WILL DEEPEN THE TROUGH AND LOWER TEMPERATURES BACK TO NEAR NORMAL. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR THROUGH 06Z THURSDAY. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES...ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 22 2011... UNHEALTHY IN FRESNO COUNTY. UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS IN KERN...KINGS...MADERA...MERCED AND TULARE COUNTIES. FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT VALLEYAIR.ORG && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH THROUGH LATE FRIDAY NIGHT CAZ093-094-096-097. && PUBLIC...MOLINA AVN/FW...MV SYNOPSIS...PJ WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 257 AM PDT TUE JUN 21 2011 CAZ089>094-096-097-221215- 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- SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON- TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS- 257 AM PDT TUE JUN 21 2011 ...POTENTIAL FLOODING... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA INCLUDING THE FOOTHILLS NORTH OF KERN COUNTY. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT FLOOD WATCHES...WARNINGS...AND ADVISORIES REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR...INCLUDING THE MERCED...KINGS...SAN JOAQUIN AND KAWEAH RIVERS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY FLOOD WATCHES...WARNINGS...AND ADVISORIES ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE AT LEAST THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. REMAIN ALERT TO THE DANGERS OF HIGH WATERS...AND LISTEN TO LOCAL OFFICIALS ON ANY CLOSERS OF RIVERS TO SWIMMERS...BOATERS AND RAFTERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT OR UNUSUAL CONDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. BINGHAM
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
From about mid June on, the Merced river in Yosemite National Park peaked very close to flood stage, and on a few occasions rose above flood stage, and forced several campgrounds to close because of minor flooding problems.
Park Service officials reported Lewis Creek near Cedar Grove had flooded and overflowed its banks. This flooding was in response to rapid snowmelt in the Southern Sierra Nevada.
Local TV broadcasters reported a property was flooded near the Kings River near Reedley.
A mobile home was damaged by snowmelt floodwaters at Lindy's Landing along the Kings River.
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, June 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: 326225, 326220, 326222, 326223.