Strong Wind in California, November 15 to 16, 2014

Name: Strong Wind in California, November 15 to 16, 2014
Start: 2014-11-15T13:20
End: 2014-11-16T01:00
Location: California

November 15 to 16, 2014 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1,000
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.

A weak disturbance moved through across southern California on November 13 and 14 but brought only mid and high clouds across central California with some virga. Despite this disturbance, dense fog formed in the San Joaquin Valley during the morning hours of the 14th. Visibility was less than 1/4 mile at many locations including Madera, Fresno, Visalia, Hanford, and Lemoore. At times visibility was less than 200 feet.

A ridge of high pressure followed the weak disturbance, with the axis over the coast of California on the 15th. The resulting northwesterly flow brought gusty winds to the Kern County desert, mainly below the passes of the Tehachapi mountains.

Surface high pressure strengthened in the Great Basin by Sunday, November 16th. This turned the flow offshore and brought gusty easterly winds along with very dry conditions across the Kern County Mountains. The winds followed the terrain and became southeasterly and gusted 35 to 45 mph at times. Humidity also fell to less than 10 percent for 20 to 34 hours on November 16th to the 18th. Red flag warnings were in effect for that time period, but no significant fire activity was reported.

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 Nov 15, 2:36 AM PST, 10 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 15, 2:36 AM PST, 10 hours 44 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
236 AM PST SAT NOV 15 2014

.SYNOPSIS...
BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE OFF THE WEST COAST WILL KEEP DRY
CONDITIONS OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. PATCHY
VALLEY FOG WILL DEVELOP AGAIN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY MORNINGS. A WEAK
STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN TO THE AREA NEXT
TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.

&&

.DISCUSSION...UNDER BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE, JUST SOME HIGH CLOUDS
ARE STREAMING SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA. MEANWHILE WITH THE MAINLY
CLEAR SKIES, PATCHES OF DENSE FOG HAVE DEVELOPED. EXPECT THE FOG
TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AS THE NIGHT WEARS ON AND WILL KEEP A
CLOSE WATCH ON WHETHER ANY ADVISORIES ARE NEEDED. SOCIAL MEDIA IS
BEING USED TO CONVEY SPECIFICS ON THE FOG AT THIS TIME. OVER THE
NEXT 3 DAYS, FORECAST MODELS REALLY AMPLIFY THE RIDGE OVER THE
WEST COAST AND THIS WILL KEEP THE WEATHER DRY WITH INVERSION
CONDITIONS INCREASING IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. OVER THE
REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST AREA, MAINLY CLEAR CONDITIONS WILL
PREVAIL.

SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS AN ARCTIC TROUGH DROPPING INTO THE GREAT
BASIN THIS MORNING AND ALTHOUGH THIS FEATURE WILL BE DRY AS IT
CLIPS SOUTHEAST AND EASTERN CALIFORNIA, WIND WILL BECOME AN ISSUE
FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERT AREAS THIS AFTERNOON AND
OVERNIGHT. CURRENT FORECAST GRIDS INDICATE LOCAL GUSTS TO 50 MPH
HOWEVER THIS AREA WILL BE CLOSELY MONITORED FOR ANY ADVISORY
ISSUANCES IF WINDS MATERIALIZE STRONGER OR MORE WIDESPREAD THAN
FORECAST.

THE UPCOMING MID WEEK STORM SYSTEM IS LOOKING LESS AND LESS OF A
SIGNIFICANT FEATURE AS FORECAST MODELS CONTINUE TO SLOW ITS
EASTWARD PROGRESSION INTO THE STRONG RIDGE. I HAVE LIMITED ANY
PRECIPITATION THREAT TO THE WESTERN EDGE OF THE FORECAST AREA ON
TUESDAY NIGHT AND NOW IT LOOKS THE GREATEST CHANCE OF LIGHT
PRECIPITATION WILL OCCUR ON WEDNESDAY. AGAIN, NO A BIG SYSTEM TO
SAY THE LEAST. MODELS COMPLETELY DIVERGE LATER NEXT WEEK
CONCERNING THE END OF THE WEEK SYSTEM WITH THE ECMWF MODEL
BRINGING A WEAK TROUGH ACROSS THE AREA WHILE THE GFS KEEPS ANY
RAIN THREAT WELL TO THE NORTH.

&&

.AVIATION...
WIDESPREAD MVFR AND AREAS OF IFR VISIBILITIES IN THE SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY DUE TO HZ/BR UNTIL 20Z SAT AND AFTER 08Z SUN WITH LOCAL LIFR
POSSIBLE IN FOG UNTIL 18Z SAT AND AFTER 10Z SUN. OTHERWISE VFR
CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OVER THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR FOR THE NEXT 24
HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15 2014... FIREPLACE/WOOD STOVE BURNING
STATUS IS: NO BURNING UNLESS REGISTERED 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 LOW.

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 11-15       79:1979     46:1982     56:1965     30:1964
KFAT 11-16       81:2008     48:1982     58:2012     27:1958
KFAT 11-17       81:2008     49:1994     58:2012     29:1961

KBFL 11-15       84:1900     48:1982     58:1969     27:1916
KBFL 11-16       82:1979     47:1958     58:1965     27:1916
KBFL 11-17       84:2008     48:1964     58:1983     29:1905
&&

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

PUBLIC...DUDLEY
AVN/FW...DS
SYNOPSIS...BSO

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Strong Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: November 15, 1:20 PM PST to November 16, 1:00 AM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph) measured gust
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: Mesonet

What these are

Strong Wind: Non-thunderstorm winds below high wind criteria that nonetheless caused damage or casualties.

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, November 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: 545984.