A strong cold front moved through Northern and Central California during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 7. The front generated local strong and gusty winds, brief heavy rain, and localized flooding.
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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 MTR wrote it up.
A strong cold front moved through Northern and Central California during the early morning hours of Tuesday, April 7. The front generated local strong and gusty winds, brief heavy rain, and localized flooding.
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 San Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 7, 3:34 AM PST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
434 AM PDT TUE APR 7 2015
...LATE SEASON STORM TO IMPACT THE REGION THROUGH TONIGHT...
.SYNOPSIS...RAIN WILL GO THROUGH OUR AREA THIS MORNING. ALONG
WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...THUNDERSTORMS WITH SMALL HAIL AND
GUSTY WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS THE SYSTEM MOVES INLAND. IN
ADDITION...SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE SANTA
LUCIA RANGE ABOVE 4000 FEET. DRY WEATHER CONDITIONS RETURN BY
MIDWEEK AS THE SYSTEM EXITS THE REGION.
&&
.DISCUSSION...AS OF 3:00 AM PDT TUESDAY...AS EXPECTED RADAR
RETURNS HAVE INCREASED THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS A STRONG
FRONT MOVES ACROSS OUR AREA. LATEST LOOK AT KMUX SHOWS A BAND OF
MODERATE RAIN ENTERING THE SF BAY REGION ASSOCIATED WITH THE
HEAVILY ADVERTISED COLD FRONT. SO FAR RAINFALL RETURNS HAVE BEEN
DECENT WITH PARTS OF SONOMA COUNTY OVER THREE QUARTERS OF AN
INCH. LATEST RUN OF THE HRRR SHOWS THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR MODERATE
TO POSSIBLY HEAVY RAINFALL THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS IN A REGION
FROM THE SOUTH BAY OVER TO THE FAR EAST BAY VALLEYS AND THEN SOUTH
INTO SANTA CRUZ COUNTY. THOSE SPOTS COULD EASILY SEE HALF AN INCH
BY MID-MORNING.
WINDS PICKED UP THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS ALTHOUGH STRONG GUSTS
GENERALLY HAVE BEEN CONFINED TO HIGHER ELEVATION SPOTS. A FEW
URBAN AREAS ARE SEEING GUSTS OVER 25 MPH INCLUDING BOTH THE SFO
AND OAKLAND AIRPORTS. FOR SPOTS OVER 1000 FEET GUSTS OVER 35 MPH
ARE FAIRLY COMMON ESPECIALLY FOR OUR TYPICAL WINDY SPOTS.
BEHIND THE COLD FRONT THE ATMOSPHERE WILL DESTABILIZE WITH LIFTED
VALUES EXPECTED TO DROP AS LOW AS MINUS 3 WHILE CAPE VALUES COULD
EXCEED 200 J/KG. WOULD EXPECT AT LEAST A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
OUR AREA ALONG WITH REPORTS OF SMALL HAIL. WORTH NOTING THAT VERY
LITTLE DIRECTIONAL SHEER IS FORECAST FOR OUR AREA WITH ONLY
LIMITED SPEED SHEER WHICH WILL HELP TO LIMIT THE THREAT OF SEVERE
WEATHER. THE COOLER AIR WILL LEAD TO LOWER SNOW LEVELS WITH
ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED OVER 4000 FEET. STILL LOOKS LIKE THE SANTA
LUCIA RANGE COULD PICK UP 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW.
ALL TOO FAMILIAR RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD BACK TO OUR AREA
STARTING ON WEDNESDAY AS THE SYSTEM DEPARTS TO THE EAST. THIS
WILL LEAD TO THE STORM TRACK HEADING BACK WELL TO THE NORTH ALONG
WITH WARMER TEMPERATURES. LONGER RANGE OUTLOOKS DO NOT INDICATE
ANY ADDITIONAL SUBSTANTIAL STORMS PAST TODAY GOING ALL OF THE WAY
TO APRIL 20TH.
&&
.AVIATION...AS OF 04:27 AM PDT TUESDAY...A COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY
TRAVERSING THE BAY AREA BRINGING RAIN AND GUSTY WINDS. FOR THE
MOST PART FLIGHT CAT ARE VFR WITH A FEW POCKETS OF MVFR. THE
IMPACT TO TERMINALS WILL BE EARLY THIS MORNING THROUGH THE
MORNING RUSH WITH WET RUNWAYS AND WIND. FOLLOWING SHORT TERM
MODELS...RAIN WILL TAPER OFF FROM N-S AFTER 14/15Z. STEADIER RAIN
TRANSITIONS TO HIT MORE MISS SHOWERS/CONVECTIVE NATURE. WINDS WILL ALSO DIMINISH
AFTER 15Z. VFR CONDITIONS TONIGHT. CONF IS MEDIUM.
VICINITY OF KSFO...TIMING OF PERSISTENT RAINFALL THROUGH APPROX
15Z WITH GUSTY WINDS.
SFO BRIDGE APPROACH...SIMILAR TO KSFO.
MONTEREY BAY AREA TERMINALS...RAIN THROUGH MID MORNING THEN VCSH
THIS AFTERNOON.
&&
.MARINE...AS OF 04:26 AM PDT TUESDAY...A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE
THROUGH THE COASTAL WATERS EARLY TODAY PRODUCING GUSTY
WINDS...RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS. THE GUSTY WINDS WILL PRODUCE
LOCALLY HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS. WINDS WILL DECREASE FROM NORTH TO
SOUTH THROUGH THE DAY AS THE FRONT EXITS THE REGION WITH AN
IMPROVING SEA STATE. NORTHWEST SWELL THROUGH THE PERIOD.
&&
.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
.TDAY...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY...SANTA LUCIA RANGE THROUGH
TONIGHT.
SCA...SF BAY NORTH OF THE BAY BRIDGE UNTIL 8 AM
SCA...SF BAY SOUTH OF THE BAY BRIDGE UNTIL 8 AM
SCA...PT REYES TO PIGEON PT 0-10 NM UNTIL 8 AM
SCA...PIGEON PT TO PT PINOS 0-10 NM UNTIL 8 AM
SCA...PT REYES TO PIGEON PT 10-60 NM UNTIL 8 AM
SCA...PIGEON PT TO PT PINOS 10-60 NM UNTIL 8 AM
SCA...PT PINOS TO PT PIEDRAS BLANCAS 0-10 NM UNTIL 11 AM
SCA...PT PINOS TO PT PIEDRAS BLANCAS 10-60 NM UNTIL 11 AM
&&
PUBLIC FORECAST: BELL
AVIATION/MARINE: MM
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WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/NWSBAYAREAThe San Francisco radar (KMUX), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:01 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Roadway flooding and debris caused multiple lane closures on highway 101 near the Red Barn.
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: 566414.