Drought in California, February 1 to 28, 2015

Name: Drought in California, February 1 to 28, 2015
Start: 2015-02-01T00:00
End: 2015-02-28T23:59
Location: California

February 1 to 28, 2015 · NWS HNX · 11 events in 11 counties and zones

The California drought continued in full force during the month of February, 2015. Precipitation continued to be below normal for the month with well above normal temperatures.

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 February, 2015. Precipitation continued to be below normal for the month with well above normal temperatures. Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada was limited to the highest elevations until the end of the month when a storm on February 28 brought snow levels down to about 5000 feet.

The U.S. Drought Monitor continued to report exceptional drought conditions across the entire Central California region. This extent of exceptional drought is extremely unusual for California. The 2013-2014 water year (July 1 - June 30) concluded with Fresno setting its second driest on record (4.81 inches) and Bakersfield setting its third driest (2.41 inches). For the calendar year, 2014 was the warmest year on record for Fresno and Bakersfield. The trend of below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures has continued into 2015.

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, wells drying up in several communities leaving them with no water, and an unprecedented increase in fire danger across the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains.

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 Jan 31, 4:45 PM PST, 7 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 31, 4:45 PM PST, 7 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
445 PM PST SAT JAN 31 2015

.UPDATE...
UPDATED AIR QUALITY SECTION.

&&

.SYNOPSIS...
PATCHY LATE NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING DENSE FOG WILL BE POSSIBLE
THROUGH THE WEEKEND INTO NEXT WEEK FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. HIGH
PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD OVER CALIFORNIA RESULTING IN ABOVE
NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND DRY WEATHER THROUGH AT LEAST THE MIDDLE OF
NEXT WEEK.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE BEGAN BUILDING OVER THE REGION THIS
AFTERNOON...RESULTING IN A WARMING TREND ACROSS THE AREA. PATCHY
DENSE FOG CLEARED AROUND 10 AM THIS MORNING FOR MANY
LOCATIONS...ALLOWING FOR RAPID WARMING. TEMPERATURES ARE CURRENTLY
BETWEEN 2 AND 6 DEGREES WARMER COMPARED TO THIS TIME
YESTERDAY...AND ARE EXPECTED TO WARM INTO THE MID 60S THROUGH THE
VALLEY...NEARLY 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE LAST DAY IN
JANUARY. HOWEVER...THESE TEMPERATURES ARE FAR FROM THE DAILY
RECORDS WHICH ARE ANYWHERE FROM THE MID 70S TO LOW 80S.

OTHERWISE...PATCHY DENSE FOG WAS ONCE AGAIN PRESENT THROUGH MUCH
OF THE VALLEY...WITH VISIBILITY FALLING TO A QUARTER MILE OR LESS.
VISIBILITY RAPIDLY IMPROVED BETWEEN 9 AND 10 THIS MORNING WITH A
FEW LOCATIONS HOLDING ONTO THE LOW VISIBILITY THROUGH 11 AM. DENSE
FOG IS EXPECTED TO FORM AGAIN AROUND MIDNIGHT. WITH HIGH PRESSURE
DOMINATING THE AREA THROUGH AT LEAST THE MIDDLE OF NEXT
WEEK...EXPECT PATCHY DENSE FOG EACH LATE INTO THE MORNING HOURS.

A WARM AND DRY WEEK IS EXPECTED FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK AS HIGH
PRESSURE DOMINATES THE REGION. BY THURSDAY...AN UPPER TROUGH IS
FORECAST TO MOVE EAST TOWARD THE CALIFORNIA COASTLINE WITH THE
RIDGE SHIFTING EAST OVER NEVADA. THE ENSEMBLE MEANS ARE IN GOOD
AGREEMENT WITH REGARDS TO THE POSITION OF THE UPPER TROUGH AND THE
RIDGE AXIS...BUT ARE STRUGGLING WITH PRECIPITATION FOR THE AREA.
THE NAEFS PROBABILITY OF MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION FOR THE REGION
HAS BEEN SHIFTING SLOWLY NORTH FROM RUN TO RUN...GIVING
FORECASTERS LOW CONFIDENCE WITH THE REGION SEEING ANY RAIN. IF IT
DOES RAIN...IT WILL LIKELY FALL NORTH OF FRESNO COUNTY...WHERE
ONLY VERY LIGHT RAIN IS POSSIBLE FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE WEATHER AS WE HOPE TO GET A BETTER
HANDLE ON THIS STORM SYSTEM AS THE WEEK PROGRESSES.

&&

.AVIATION...
IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY...MAINLY MVFR VISIBILITY WITH LOCAL IFR IN
HAZE THRU 06Z SUN THEN BECOMING MAINLY IFR IN MIST WITH AREAS OF
LIFR IN FOG BY 10Z SUN. CONDITIONS IMPROVING TO MAINLY MVFR IN HAZE
BETWEEN 18Z SUN AND 20Z SUN. ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE CENTRAL CA
INTERIOR...VFR CONDITIONS CAN BE EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
ON SUNDAY FEBRUARY 1 2015... 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 MEDIUM.
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 01-31       75:1984     39:1969     55:1963     26:1949
KFAT 02-01       73:1991     43:1939     54:1905     25:1950
KFAT 02-02       74:1928     44:1903     57:1907     26:1950

KBFL 01-31       82:1984     45:1969     57:1963     23:1902
KBFL 02-01       76:1928     45:1965     55:1963     24:1902
KBFL 02-02       80:1928     44:1971     61:1958     23:1893
&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
DENSE FOG ADVISORY FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 11 AM PST SUNDAY
CAZ089>092.

&&

PUBLIC...RILEY
AVN/FW...DS
SYNOPSIS...RILEY

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

11 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, W Central S.J. Valley

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: W Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, E Central S.J. Valley

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: E Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Sw S.J. Valley

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Sw S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Se S.J. Valley

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, S Sierra Foothills

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Tulare Cty Foothills

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Kern Cty Mtns

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, S Sierra Mtns

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Indian Wells Vly

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: February 1, 12:00 AM PST to February 28, 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 2015 Every state in 2015 This day in weather history Warnings in California, February 2015

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: 554107, 554108, 554109, 554110, 554111, 554112, 554113, 554114, 554115, 554116, 554117.