An upper level trough of low pressure moved onshore on April 14th resulting in wind gusts of 45-60 MPH. An area of dust and dirt was lifted into the atmosphere, reducing visibility to near zero across Highway 180 near Fresno.
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.
An upper level trough of low pressure moved onshore on April 14th resulting in wind gusts of 45-60 MPH. An area of dust and dirt was lifted into the atmosphere, reducing visibility to near zero across Highway 180 near Fresno. The reduced visibility lead to a seven-car crash causing minor injuries and a closure of the roadway for a few hours.
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 Apr 14, 7:18 AM PST, 3 hours 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
818 AM PDT TUE APR 14 2015
.UPDATE...
ADDED DRIZZLE TO THE SOUTH END OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND THE
ADJACENT SLOPES THIS MORNING.
&&
.SYNOPSIS...
A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE THROUGH THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
INTERIOR TODAY WITH WINDY AND COOLER WEATHER. HIGH PRESSURE WILL
BRING A RETURN OF DRY AND WARMER WEATHER FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE
WEEK.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL REPORTING LIGHT RAIN ON EAST SIDE OF
BAKERSFIELD. SURFACE OBSERVATIONS FROM MEADOWS FIELD AND SATELLITE
LOOPS SHOW LOW CLOUDS POOLED OVER THE SOUTH END OF THE SAN
JOAQUIN VALLEY AND PATCHY LIGHT RAIN OR DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE
THROUGH THE MORNING.
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 230 AM PDT TUE APR 14 2015/
DISCUSSION...SATELLITE IMAGERY AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS SHOW THE
TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE NOW MOVING INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. WINDS
HAVE BEEN ESPECIALLY GUSTY OVER THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND AS OF 2
AM, FRESNO WAS GUSTING TO 37 MPH WITH HANFORD AND LEMOORE NAS NOT
FAR BEHIND. THE MAIN WEATHER CONCERN FOR TODAY REMAINS THE WIND
AND A WIND ADVISORY IS IN PLACE FOR THE WEST SIDE OF THE SAN
JOAQUIN VALLEY AS WILL AS THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND DESERT
REGIONS. SOME UPSLOPE CLOUDS WILL PERSIST OVER THE SAN JOAQUIN
VALLEY FACING SLOPES OF THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND SOME LIGHT
DRIZZLE CANNOT BE RULED OUT. OVER THE SIERRA, IT LOOKS LIKE A DRY
FRONTAL PASSAGE, AND I HAVE REMOVED ANY MENTION OF SHOWERS FOR
TODAY.
THE TROUGH IS PROGGED TO RACE QUICKLY EAST TODAY AND THEN FORM A
CLOSED LOW OVER THE ROCKIES. THIS WILL OCCUR AS A RIDGE OF HIGH
PRESSURE AMPLIFIES OVER THE WEST COAST. TEMPERATURES WILL RESPOND
WITH A BIG WARMING WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. AS THE RIDGE REACHES
MAXIMUM AMPLITUDE ON SATURDAY, THE WARM AIRMASS WILL BECOME
UNSTABLE ENOUGH OVER THE HIGH SIERRA FOR A SMALL THREAT OF
AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ON BOTH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.
&&
.AVIATION...
SURFACE WIND GUSTING ABOVE 30KT POSSIBLE ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF THE
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY THRU 03Z WED AND THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND
DESERTS THRU 06Z WED. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED
THROUGHOUT THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.
&&
.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 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 04-14 98:1985 52:1956 60:1985 36:1972
KFAT 04-15 96:1947 57:1988 62:1925 35:1970
KFAT 04-16 95:1947 51:1917 58:1947 35:1896
KBFL 04-14 99:1985 56:2003 62:1962 33:1893
KBFL 04-15 97:1994 57:2007 61:1947 36:1921
KBFL 04-16 97:1947 50:1995 64:1947 34:1922
&&
.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING CAZ095-098-099.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING CAZ089>091.
&&
PUBLIC...SANGER
AVN/FW...DS
PREV DISCUSSION...DUDLEY
SYNOPSIS...DUDLEY
WEATHER.GOV/HANFORDPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
853 AM PDT TUE APR 14 2015
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0810 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 NW MOJAVE 35.11N 118.24W
04/14/2015 M54 MPH KERN CA MESONET
MESONET STATION CACHE CREEK CHP /AU563/
&&
NWS HANFORD CA
IRIS SYSTEMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
1052 AM PDT TUE APR 14 2015
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0837 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 5 NNW LEMOORE STATION 36.33N 119.95W
04/14/2015 M40 MPH KINGS CA ASOS
ASOS STATION LEMOORE NAS /NLC/
&&
NWS HANFORD CA
IRIS SYSTEM1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Blowing dust reduced visibility to nearly zero along Highway 180, near Fresno, causing two multi-car accidents.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in California, April 2015
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: 571508.