A Pacific front moved through interior Northern California bringing rain and mountain snow. Increased shear and instability developed in the afternoon that producing severe storms with large hail and an EF1 tornado.
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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 STO wrote it up.
A Pacific front moved through interior Northern California bringing rain and mountain snow. Increased shear and instability developed in the afternoon that producing severe storms with large hail and an EF1 tornado.
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 Nov 15, 3:27 AM PST, 3 hours 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 327 AM PST SUN NOV 15 2015 .SYNOPSIS... A storm system will move across the area today bringing rain and mountain snow. Light showers may continue across the northern portions of the state into midweek with dry conditions elsewhere. && .DISCUSSION... Storm system has begun to move inland across Northern California this morning. As of this writing, most of the heavy precipitation has remained along the Northwest Coast, while the leading edge has started to cross the Coastal Range. Of note, there were a number of NCFR (Narrow Cold Frontal Rain) bands along the NW coast. This lends credence to the idea that precipitation across the Valley locations today may be short-lived but will likely come in a relatively high-intensity form. This high-intensity precipitation could also translate into high snowfall rates across the Sierra for a few hours today. Taking into consideration the possibility of high snowfall rates along with potential for high impact to Sunday mountain travel, we upgraded the advisory to a Winter Storm Warning today. Snow levels will start around 5000 ft and should lower slightly through the event. All told, 4-8 inches of snow are expected above 5000 ft, with 12 inches or locally greater possible along the highest peaks. Again, much of this snow is likely to accumulate within a 6-12 hour window. A slight chance of thunderstorms will be possible today, along and behind the cold front. Instability looks to be somewhat limited, and lift looks unimpressive with flow turning northwest, meaning any development should remain isolated. Best chance of thunderstorms will be along the northern and eastern Sacramento Valley, and adjacent Sierra foothills. Precipitation will shift eastward this afternoon and evening, winding down along the Sierra overnight. With clearing skies, overnight temperatures should again be cold across low-lying areas and the Valley. Patchy frost is likely. Locally breezy north winds will develop on Monday behind the front. Some light precipitation will be possible across the far northern portions of the state through midweek, though the rest of the forecast area will remain dry. Temperatures will gradually warm back up to near normal by midweek. Dang && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Thursday THROUGH Sunday) Weak ridging in place over the west coast on Thursday allowing just a slight threat of showers across northern Shasta county...otherwise extended forecast starts out dry with near normal temperatures. A slight northerly flow will keep minimum temperatures near normal as well. Little change is expected on Friday under continued flat upper ridging. Latest GFS and ECMWF in good agreement in bringing a weak trough across the northern portion of the state next Saturday. Therefore...have incorporated this fairly new scenario into forecast by hedging some showers into the northern zones and adjusting winds. Not ready to jump on board completely yet however as models have not had good run to run consistency. Latest model runs keep next Sunday dry under cool northerly flow. && .AVIATION... Lowering ceilings and visibility through the morning hours with MVFR in rain. Areas of IFR in Rain or Snow over mountains. Isolated thunderstorms over valley 18z today through 00Z Monday. Conditions improving from west to east 00z to 12z Monday. Increasing southwest winds with surface gusts to 20 knots over TAF sites and gusts to 50 knots over highest elevations. Winds turning northerly and decreasing slowly after 00z. && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Winter Storm Warning until 10 PM PST this evening for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada-Western Plumas County/Lassen Park. &&
The Sacramento radar (KDAX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:58 UTC.
3 heavy snow, 3 heavy rain, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
There were 10 inches of snow measured at the Kingvale Caltrans maintenance yard over 12 hours, at an elevation of 6100 feet.
There was 1.22 inches of rain reported by spotter Pacific House, 24 hour total. New snow depth of 1 inch.
There was 0.79 inches of rain, which was briefly heavy. This is the 24 hour total.
There was 1.10 inches of rain measured, 24 hour total.
A trained spotter reported 10 inches of new snow, water equivalent 0.92 inches, over 24 hours.
There were 12-14 inches of snow measured at Kirkwood Ski Resort, over 24 hours.
Trees and power lines were knocked down in east Biggs by winds from a microburst. The California Highway Patrol, Cal Fire-Butte County and Pacific Gas and Electric responded to reports of downed power lines on Dos Rios Road in East Biggs. PG&E’s outage map indicated that about 104 residences were affected by the outage as late as 5 p.m. Sunday.
Dime size hail pile up and covered the road, causing slippery conditions.
A severe thunderstorm produced a tornado with multiple touch downs that moved through the north section of Denair, CA touching down around 1:54 pm PST and ending around 2:15 pm PST on Sunday, November 15, 2015. There were no injuries. About 21 homes were impacted, 2 of them with major damage, but most with minor roof damage. Many fences were knocked down. Numerous trees and tree branches were brought down, including several large trees and numerous sections of trees in walnut groves. Power lines were knocked down causing local power outages. The multiple touch down path was about 3 miles long. The damage path was about 175-200 yards at the widest point.
A mobile home in Newcastle had the outer roof and carport ripped off around 2:13 pm PST, with little other damage to neighboring home except for some tree branches. The damage was determined to due to straight line winds from a microburst.
Quarter size hail covered the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for California, 2015Warnings in California, November 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: 609707, 609703, 609705, 609706, 609708, 609709, 609717, 609698, 605791, 609696, 609699.