High Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert
- When
- May 18, 5:00 PM PST to May 19, 2:00 AM PST
- Where
- Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
- Measured
- 54 kt (62 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- Mesonet
High Wind in California, May 18 to 19, 2013
Behind the low, an upper-level ridge that had been over the Pacific Northwest dropped south into California, warming temperatures well above normal. Bakersfield had its first 100-degree day of the year on May 11th, with Fresno hitting triple digits for the first time on the next day.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
Behind the low, an upper-level ridge that had been over the Pacific Northwest dropped south into California, warming temperatures well above normal. Bakersfield had its first 100-degree day of the year on May 11th, with Fresno hitting triple digits for the first time on the next day. A strong upper-level disturbance moved through Tulare County during the afternoon of the 11th, triggering a few thunderstorms over the Southern Sierra Nevada in Kern and Tulare Counties.
Several high and high minimum temperature records were set between May 11th and the 13th. |Fresno set both record high and record high minimum temperatures on May 12th, and Bakersfield tied its record high minimum temperature for the date. The next day, Fresno tied its record high minimum temperature.
An upper-level low approached Monterey Bay on May 14th, deepening the marine layer and allowing cooler marine air to spill into the San Joaquin Valley. This ended the four-day stretch of near-record heat across much of the central California interior. The low also triggered thunderstorms over the Southern Sierra Nevada on the 14th, and Yosemite Valley measured 0.55 inch of rain during the afternoon. Winds funneled through the passes and canyons of the Kern County from the evening of the 14th through the early morning of the 16th. Gusts to as high as 58 mph were measured at the Mojave Air and Space Port, and gusts to 45-55 mph were common in the Mojave Desert below the Tehachapi Pass.
Clouds from this system kept overnight lows in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley warm, and Fresno set a record high minimum temperature for May 15th.
A stronger upper-level low reached California on May 16th. Although it was a mostly dry system, light showers developed over the Southern Sierra Nevada near Yosemite National Park. Tenaya Lake recorded 0.12 inch of rain, while other stations near the park reported only a few hundredths of an inch.
The low deepened the marine layer, with marine air spilling through Pacheco Pass and generating strong gusts in northwestern Merced County. The low also caused gusts to around 45 mph across parts of the Kern County mountains and deserts during the afternoon and evening of the 16th. Stronger winds developed over the desert the next day and continued through the early morning of May 19th. The National Test Pilots School at Mojave recorded a gust to 62 mph during the evening of May 18th, and both the Mojave Air and Space Port and the Union Pacific Railroad gauge at Warren reported gusts to 59 mph during the event.
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 May 18, 1:52 PM PST, 3 hours 8 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 18, 1:52 PM PST, 3 hours 8 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
252 PM PDT SAT MAY 18 2013
.SYNOPSIS...
HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO BUILD OVER THE AREA RESULTING IN CLEAR
SKIES AND A GRADUAL WARMING TREND TO ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES BY
EARLY NEXT WEEK.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC WHILE A
TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE IS IN THE GREAT BASIN...LEAVING CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA IN A NORTHWESTERLY FLOW. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE DROPPING
ACROSS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST INTO NEVADA IS PREVENTING THE RIDGE
FROM BUILDING INTO CALIFORNIA TODAY. IT IS ALSO KEEPING SFO-LAS
PRESSURE GRADIENT NEAR 12 MB THIS AFTERNOON...RESULTING IN A
CONTINUATION OF GUSTY WINDS BELOW THE TEHACHAPI PASS AND INTO THE
MOJAVE AREA. ALTHOUGH WINDS DROPPED BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA THIS
MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON...EXPECT THEM TO INCREASE AGAIN BY
LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING AND CONTINUE TO BE GUSTY THROUGH THE
NIGHT. THUS THE WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT.
THE RIDGE WILL NUDGE EASTWARD SUNDAY AND MONDAY...WARMING
TEMPERATURES AND DECREASING THE WINDS. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN
ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH TUESDAY. ANOTHER TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL
DROP INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TUESDAY THEN DROP SOUTH INTO
CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY AND REMAIN OVER THE REGION THROUGH THE
REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. THIS SYSTEM DOES NOT APPEAR TO HAVE ANY
MOISTURE SOURCE BUT WILL LIKELY BRING BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS
ACROSS THE CWFA. IT WILL ALSO BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES
WEDNESDAY...WITH TEMPERATURES SLIGHT BELOW NORMAL WEDNESDAY
THROUGH FRIDAY. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE DIFFERENCES IN THE
DETAILS...THE GFS AND ECMWF ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT A TROUGH
WILL BE HANGING AROUND THE REGION THROUGH THE MEMORIAL DAY
WEEKEND.
&&
.AVIATION...
VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR.
&&
.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
NONE.
&&
.CERTAINTY...
THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 1 AND 2 IS HIGH.
THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7 IS MEDIUM.
THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED AS PART OF A TRIAL PROJECT CONDUCTED
BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD.
CERTAINTY LEVELS INCLUDE LOW...MEDIUM...AND HIGH. PLEASE VISIT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/HNX/CERTAINTY.PHP /ALL LOWER CASE/ FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND/OR TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK.
&&
.CLIMATE...
RECORDS
SITE DATE HI_MAX:YEAR LO_MAX:YEAR HI_MIN:YEAR LO_MIN:YEAR
KFAT 05-18 103:2008 63:1994 73:2008 42:1893
KFAT 05-19 103:2008 63:1972 70:2009 42:1896
KFAT 05-20 102:1947 61:1921 71:1897 44:1962
KBFL 05-18 102:2009 68:2011 76:1973 41:1893
KBFL 05-19 101:1954 65:1916 73:1979 38:1893
KBFL 05-20 103:1942 65:1923 70:2001 42:1902
&&
.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 5 AM PDT SUNDAY CAZ099.
&&
PUBLIC...BEAN
AVN/FW...JEB
SYNOPSIS...WP
WEATHER.GOV/HANFORDHazardous weather outlook, May 18, 3:19 PM PST, 1 hour 41 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 419 PM PDT SAT MAY 18 2013 CAZ099-191200- SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT- 419 PM PDT SAT MAY 18 2013 ...GUSTY WINDS... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM SUNDAY MORNING. FOR MORE DETAILS...PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST NON-PRECIPITATION STATEMENT...OR SFONPWHNX. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .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. WP
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 18, 4:08 PM PST, 52 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
508 PM PDT SAT MAY 18 2013
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0435 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 NE MOJAVE 35.07N 118.15W
05/18/2013 M49 MPH KERN CA AWOS
REPORTED AT AWOS STATION MHV
&&
IRIS SYSTEMLocal storm report, May 18, 4:27 PM PST, 33 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
527 PM PDT SAT MAY 18 2013
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0429 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 E MOJAVE 35.06N 118.15W
05/18/2013 M54 MPH KERN CA MESONET
REPORTED AT APRSWXNET STATION AT407
&&
IRIS SYSTEMLocal storm report, May 18, 4:31 PM PST, 29 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
531 PM PDT SAT MAY 18 2013
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0521 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 E MOJAVE 35.06N 118.15W
05/18/2013 M58 MPH KERN CA MESONET
REPORTED AT APRSWXNET STATION AT407
&&
IRIS SYSTEMEvent by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- High Wind
- Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, May 18, 2013
- Hail in South Dakota, May 18, 2013
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, May 18, 2013
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, May 18, 2013
- Tornadoes and Hail in Kansas, May 18, 2013
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Tennessee, May 18 to 19, 2013
- Hail and Damaging Winds in North Dakota, May 18, 2013
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Kansas, May 18 to 19, 2013
- Tornado and Hail in Nebraska, May 18, 2013
- Hail in Colorado, May 18, 2013
- Hail and Damaging Winds in South Dakota, May 18 to 19, 2013
- Flash Flood and Hail in South Dakota, May 18, 2013
More
Every storm in California in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 2013
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: 510105.