Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2015

Name: Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2015
Start: 2015-01-01T00:00
End: 2015-01-31T23:59
Location: California

January 1 to 31, 2015 · NWS STO · 1 event in 1 county or zone

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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 STO wrote it up.

After a wet December for most of the area, January returned to an extremely dry pattern with the California drought continuing in full force. This was the driest January on record for the state, with many locations receiving little or no precipitation for what is on average the wettest month of the year. Snow pack in the mountains was extremely low, about 25% of normal. |Extreme drought was detected by the U.S. Drought Monitor across the region, with exceptional drought for the northern San Joaquin Valley, the central and southern Sacramento Valley, the Burney Basin and the Sierra south of Interstate 80. |Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect. |Impacts to the region for January included strong conservation efforts within most communities, a significant decrease in the snow-related tourism activity in the Northern Sierra Nevada, reduction in air quality due to persistent stagnant air, and a reduction of ground water resources which are replacing diminished reservoir water.

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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 31, 10:07 PM PST, 1 hour 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 10:07 PM PST, 1 hour 53 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
1007 PM PST Wed Dec 31 2014

.Synopsis...
Breezy north winds will continue to diminish tonight. Dry
weather with cold overnight lows will continue for the next week.
The coldest overnight lows will be through Friday morning.

&&

.Discussion...
Clear and cold night in progress over NorCal. Winds are gradually
diminishing and the temps are dropping fast at places where the
winds have become light. Wind chills will be in the upper 20's
over much of the area at 12am for the turn to the New Year. Have
updated the forecast to lower temps into the single digits over
the Burney basin where winds have become calm. Forecast remains on
track elsewhere.

.Previous Discussion...
Interior Northern California's weather continues to be strongly
influenced by a deep, closed upper low centered over the Southern
California deserts. The NE-SW oriented jet stream that brought the
strong winds since yesterday has begun to shift southward, and
pressure gradients have slowly started to relax across the area.
That being said, breezy conditions are persisting this afternoon,
particularly along the western Sacramento Valley and the higher
Sierra.

For tonight, winds will gradually begin to diminish as pressure
gradients continue to relax, and as the boundary layer decouples.
While some lighter north winds may continue in the aforementioned
areas, most locales will see light winds tonight. The combination
of light winds and clear skies will lead to some of the coldest
temperatures of the winter season thus far tonight. Many of the
outlying, wind- sheltered locations in the Valley could drop into
the mid to upper 20s early Thursday morning.

Cold overnight temperatures should continue through Friday morning
at least. Expect lows that morning to be slightly warmer than
tonight, as winds drop off and humidity values creep back up.

Dry weather will continue through the weekend, and temperatures
will creep back up to near-normal levels as high pressure off the
coast slowly builds into California.

Dang

&&

.Extended Discussion (Sunday through Wednesday)

Upper ridge forecast to remain between 130W and the west coast
into early next week maintaining dry weather for NorCal. Cool
nights and mild days expected. Models continue to hint at a
system potentially breaking through the ridge by the middle of
next week bringing a return of wet weather to the region.

&&

.Aviation...

VFR conditions expected through the period at all sites with clear
skies. Freezing temperatures expected at TAF sites aft 08z- 17z.

&&

.STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories...
freeze warning until noon pst friday carquinez strait and
delta...central sacramento valley...clear lake/southern lake
county...motherlode...northeast foothills/sacramento valley...
northern sacramento valley...northern san joaquin valley...
southern sacramento valley.

&&

Event by event

1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor

A significant drought continues to impact to the region for January, including a large reduction in snow related tourism in the Northern Sierra Nevada. Multiple downhill and cross country ski resorts were forced to close due to a lack of snow. Resorts which remained open were forced to produce artificial snow, and scale back the number of runs open. Other winter activities such as snowmobiling and snow shoeing were also greatly affected by the lack of snow pack. Restaurants and hotels in the area which rely on winter tourism suffered a significant drop in business.

Many farmers are already planning to scale back crop planting acreage due to decreased irrigation water allocations again in 2015.

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, January 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: 555382.