A series of dry troughs of low pressure moved across California in the last few days of the March. The trough that moved through on March 31, increased the surface pressure gradients resulting in strong, gusty winds across the mountains and desert areas of Kern County, along with breezy conditions in the San Joaquin Valley.
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.
A series of dry troughs of low pressure moved across California in the last few days of the March. The trough that moved through on March 31, increased the surface pressure gradients resulting in strong, gusty winds across the mountains and desert areas of Kern County, along with breezy conditions in the San Joaquin Valley. Winds were west-northwesterly 15-30 mph with gusts generally 45-55 mph across the mountains and desert areas. However, there were some gusts of 58-66 mph in a few wind-prone locations. The gusty winds continued into April 1st and 2nd.
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 Mar 31, 1:36 PM PST, 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
236 PM PDT TUE MAR 31 2015
.SYNOPSIS...SEVERAL WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL BRUSH
THROUGH THE REGION OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. THESE DISTURBANCES
WILL PROVIDE FOR PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES WITH NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE
NORMAL TEMPERATURES FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
AN UPPER TROUGH PUSHED THROUGH CENTRAL CALIFORNIA TODAY. THIS WEATHER
FEATURE INCREASED THE ONSHORE FLOW USHERING IN STRONG GUSTY WINDS
IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND BELOW THE MOUNTAIN PASSES OF THE
KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS. FEW CUMULUS CLOUDS IN THE SIERRA DUE TO A
LACK OF MOISTURE. HOWEVER A GOOD COOL DOWN WITH TEMPERATURES 8-12
DEGREES LOWER THAN YESTERDAY. WINDY CONDITIONS SHOULD CONTINUE
THROUGH THE EVENING THAN DIMINISH OVERNIGHT. MODERATE BREEZES
FROM THE NORTH SHOULD CONTINUE THEREAFTER INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING.
MODELS INDICATE ANOTHER UPPER LOW MOVING INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. EXPECT CONDITIONS TO BECOME WINDY AGAIN IN
THE AFTERNOON DUE TO 100KT JET ALONG THE TROUGH. WINDS SHOULD
BECOME GUSTY TOWARDS MERCED COUNTY AROUND MIDDAY WEDNESDAY AND
ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF THE SJV FOR MUCH OF THE AFTERNOON. THE
STRONGER WINDS GUST MAY OCCUR BELOW THE MOUNTAIN PASSES OF THE
TEHACHAPI MOUNTAINS AND MOJAVE DESERT DURING THE EVENING.
SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING IN THE GREAT BASIN WILL PROVIDE A
DRY OFFSHORE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. THE EXTENDED MODELS FORECAST A
COLD UPPER TROUGH MOVING INTO CALIFORNIA OVER THE WEEKEND. THE
SYSTEM ORIGINATES FROM THE GULF OF ALASKA. THERE HAS BEEN POOR
MODEL RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY. HOWEVER THE 12Z EC AND GFS MODELS
FINALLY COMING INTO BETTER CONSENSUS. THUS HAVE INDICATED A SLIGHT
RISK OF PRECIPITATION TOWARDS THE YOSEMITE AREA LATE SUNDAY AND
NIGHT.
&&
.AVIATION...
STRONG GUSTY WINDS TO 40KT PROBABLE THROUGH 08Z WED BELOW THE
MOUNTAIN PASSES OF THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAIN PASSES. GUSTS TO 25KT
AT TERMINAL OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY UNTIL 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 MEDIUM.
THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7 IS MEDIUM.
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 03-31 89:1966 50:1967 58:1986 31:1905
KFAT 04-01 90:1966 49:1982 56:1939 32:1975
KFAT 04-02 87:1985 56:1907 57:2011 34:1982
KBFL 03-31 90:2003 50:1925 60:1969 32:1908
KBFL 04-01 88:2011 54:1998 62:1900 32:1917
KBFL 04-02 90:1985 57:1981 60:2002 35:1999
&&
.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 11 PM PDT THIS EVENING CAZ095-098-099.
&&
PUBLIC...MV
AVN/FW...MV
PREV DISCUSSION...JDB
SYNOPSIS...WP
WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Bird Spring Pass RAWS reported sustained winds 35-45 mph with gusts of 58-66 mph for several hours.
Indian Wells Canyon RAWS station indicated gusts of 58-67 mph for several hours.
Jawbone RAWS station reported sustained winds of 40-46 mph with gusts to 61 mph. These winds continued into the morning of April 1st.
The AWOS at Mojave measured sustained winds 36-43 mph along with gusts up to 60 mph.
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, March 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: 564678, 564683, 564680, 564685.