Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2014

Name: Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2014
Start: 2014-01-01T00:00
End: 2014-01-31T23:59
Location: California

January 1 to 31, 2014 · NWS HNX · 11 events in 11 counties and zones

The California drought continued in full force during the month of January, 2014. S.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 11

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.

The California drought continued in full force during the month of January, 2014. Extreme drought was detected by the U.S. Drought Monitor for much of the region, with exceptional drought detected along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. For California as a whole, 2013 was the driest year on record. As the 2013-2014 winter progresses, little rain has fallen across California.

On January 17th, Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California. Impacts to the region included: loss of ground water pumping ability, aggressive conservation efforts within many valley communities, lack of well drilling access, ground subsidence along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, and increasing unemployment due to lack of agricultural employment.

There continues to be significant media coverage on the on-going drought conditions. These reports include discussion of significant re-allocation of water resources from the east to west side of the San Joaquin Valley, farmers forgoing planting of some crops, a decrease in the snow-related tourism activity in the Southern Sierra Nevada, reduction in air quality due to persistent stagnant air, loss or reduction of ground water, and an unprecedented increase in fire danger across the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains. For the first time on record, red flag warnings were issued in January for not only the Southern Sierra Nevada and the Tehachapi Mountains but also the south end of the San Joaquin Valley.

January, 2014 was the 2nd warmest on record in both Bakersfield and Fresno, at 54.2 degrees and 53.2 degrees, respectively. January was the 7th driest on record for Bakersfield, at 0.12 inches, and the 26th driest at Fresno, with 0.57 inches.

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 Dec 31, 5:29 PM PST, 6 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 5:29 PM PST, 6 hours 31 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
529 PM PST TUE DEC 31 2013

.UPDATE...
UPDATED THE AIR QUALITY ISSUES SECTION.

&&

.SYNOPSIS...
UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN OVER THE REGION THROUGH THE
NEXT SEVERAL DAYS WITH A CONTINUATION OF DRY WEATHER AND ABOVE
NORMAL HIGH TEMPERATURES.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
A HIGH AMPLITUDE BLOCKING RIDGE JUST OFF THE CA COAST WILL REMAIN
IN CONTROL THROUGH AT LEAST THE FIRST WEEKEND OF 2014 AND BRING A
CONTINUATION OF DRY WEATHER...A PREVAILING OFFSHORE FLOW AND
MILDER THAN NORMAL AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES TO THE CWA. FAIRLY LOW
HUMIDITIES WILL PERSIST OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERT DURING THIS
TIME WITH POOR RECOVERIES EACH NIGHT.

THE MODELS FORECAST A BREAKDOWN OF THIS RIDGE EARLY NEXT WEEK
WITH A TRANSITION TO AN ONSHORE FLOW...SLIGHTLY COOLER MAXIMUM
TEMPERATURES AND AN INCREASE IN CLOUDINESS...AT LEAST MID AND
HIGH CLOUDINESS...BY NEXT TUESDAY. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY
AS TO WHETHER THE PATTERN BECOMES WET...IF AT ALL...A WEEK OR
SO FROM NOW. EVEN IF THIS WERE TO HAPPEN...IT NOW APPEARS THE
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR PRECIP ACROSS CENTRAL CA IS NARROWING.
AT BEST ANY PRECIP EVENT MAY BE SHORT LIVED BASED ON THE LATEST
RUN OF THE DETERMINISTIC MODELS. EVEN THE LATEST ENSEMBLES FORECAST
THE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE TO REBUILD ALONG THE WEST COAST BY THE MIDDLE
OF NEXT WEEK. IT SUFFICES TO SAY THAT THIS MODEL WAVERING DESTROYS
FORECASTER CONFIDENCE IN THE 7 TO 10 DAY PERIOD. SO UNTIL WE SEE
A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE LONG WAVE PATTERN...WE WILL REMAIN A
CONSERVATIVE AND CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC APPROACH WITH REGARD TO THE
PROSPECTS OF WET WEATHER NEXT WEEK.  STAY TUNED.

2013 WAS INDEED A PHENOMENALLY DRY YEAR THROUGHOUT THE CENTRAL CA
INTERIOR. DETAILS ABOUT IT CAN BE FOUND IN THE LATEST SFOPNSNHX...
NOUS46 KHNX. ON A FINAL NOTE...THE NWS SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY OFFICE
WISHES EVERYONE A SAFE AND ENJOYABLE NEW YEARS EVE AND A HAPPY AND
PROSPEROUS 2014.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
ON WEDNESDAY JANUARY 1 2014... UNHEALTHY IN FRESNO... KINGS AND
MADERA COUNTIES. UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS IN KERN... MERCED
AND TULARE COUNTIES.  FIREPLACE/WOOD STOVE BURNING IS PROHIBITED
IN FRESNO... KERN... KINGS... MADERA... MERCED AND TULARE
COUNTIES.
FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT VALLEYAIR.ORG

&&

.CERTAINTY...

THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 1 AND 2 IS HIGH.
THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7 IS HIGH.

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 12-31       69:1997     36:1929     53:1913     23:1975
KFAT 01-01       69:1998     39:1988     59:1997     21:1976
KFAT 01-02       70:1948     36:1961     57:1997     20:1976

KBFL 12-31       73:1913     39:1919     53:1981     19:1929
KBFL 01-01       74:1997     39:1961     57:1997     19:1930
KBFL 01-02       82:2012     37:1961     57:1997     19:1930

&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.

&&

PUBLIC...DURFEE
AVN/FW...SANGER
SYNOPSIS...WP

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

11 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, W Central S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: W Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, E Central S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: E Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Sw S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Sw S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Se S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, S Sierra Foothills

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Tulare Cty Foothills

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Kern Cty Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, S Sierra Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Indian Wells Vly

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in California, January 2014

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: 498456, 498457, 498458, 498459, 498460, 498461, 498462, 498463, 498464, 498465, 498466.