A cold storm from the Gulf of Alaska brought the first significant snow to the mountains and down into the upper foothills. There were snowfall amounts up to a foot above 6000 ft, with measurable snow down to as low as 2700 feet.
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The episode as NWS STO wrote it up.
A cold storm from the Gulf of Alaska brought the first significant snow to the mountains and down into the upper foothills. There were snowfall amounts up to a foot above 6000 ft, with measurable snow down to as low as 2700 feet. This caused travel delays and accidents on mountain roads.
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 8, 2:01 PM PST, 6 hours 59 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 201 PM PST SUN NOV 8 2015 .SYNOPSIS... A WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS NORCAL TODAY INTO MONDAY...BRINGING RAIN, MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS AND A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. DRY AND COOL WEATHER MID-WEEK. && .DISCUSSION... First wave of precipitation continues to spread through the valley. Models looks similar to yesterdays for todays rainfall amounts. Models indicate this first wave will enhance over Sacramento this afternoon before ending late in the afternoon. Behind the front showers will likely develop to its north and west. In general amounts for the valley with this first wave look to be around a quarter of an inch or less with amounts in the mountains between a half an inch and three quarters of an inch. On Monday another wave will move into the region and will likely bring numerous showers to the interior during the day with additional rainfall and snowfall. There is also the potential for thunderstorms to develop late tonight and Monday over all areas so local areas could see higher amounts. The best time period and area for convection looks to be from late morning through early evening on Monday and from the Central Sacramento valley southward including the surrounding foothills. Have issued a Flash Flood Watch for the burn areas due to the potential of thunderstorms that would likely produce a mix of heavy rain and small hail. The time period looks to start for the western burn area by late morning then the for the butte burn area later in the afternoon and evening. Snow levels will continue to lower this evening as colder air arrives throughout the night with the coldest air expected late tonight and monday morning. Snow levels will be dropping to around 3500 to 4000 feet. Snowfall amounts look to be between 4 to 7 inches below pass levels down to around 5000 feet with to up to 10 inches over the higher elevations through tonight. Lessor amounts are possible at lower levels. A shortwave will rotate through the interior Monday and Monday night. It is with this wave that we are most concerned with thunderstorm development. It will also increase precipitation over the area and in the mountains during the afternoon and evening hours with the focus from the central valley southward. As a result have extended the Winter Weather Advisory into Tuesday morning for the West Slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Rainfall amounts with this wave will generally be under a quarter of an inch with an additional quarter to half an inch for the mountains. Some higher amounts are likely due to the convection expected but exact locations are uncertain. Additional snowfall accumulations are expected to be between 4 to 8 inches south of Plumas County. The system will move east of the area Tuesday and precipitation will first end over the interior and then gradually ending over the Sierra Nevada Tuesday morning. Northerly winds will develop behind the system for Tuesday. Cooler temperatures will settle in over the region for the next several days. Some warming of day time highs will occur under weak ridging to zonal type flow Tuesday and Wednesday. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Thursday THROUGH Sunday) Dry weather expected over Interior NorCal Thursday into Saturday as upper ridging gradually weakens through this period. Temperatures expected to be near to slightly above normal. Models solutions diverge late in the forecast period with the EC bringing a deep trough across the area Sunday into Monday. The GFS maintains more upper ridging while the GEM is more like the EC but not as deep. Confidence is low attm but have some low POPs advertised for Sun/Mon. && .AVIATION... Cold fnt movg thru Srn ptns of fcst area attm flwd by assocd upr low Mon. Mnly VFR conds in Cntrl Vly with lcl MVFR/IFR poss nxt 24 hrs in shwrs with isold tstms poss Mon aftn. Omtns, wdsprd MVFR with areas IFR and lcl LIFR in shwrs thru Mon ngt. Sn lvls lwrg to arnd 035-040 Mon. && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Winter Weather Advisory until 4 AM PST Monday for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada-Western Plumas County/Lassen Park. Flash Flood Watch from Monday morning through Monday evening for the...VALLEY...ROCKY...JERUSALEM...WRAGG AND BUTTE WILDFIRE BURN AREAS LOCATED IN LAKE...COLUSA...YOLO...SOLANO...CALAVERAS AND AMADOR COUNTIES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. &&
The Beale AFB radar (KBBX), 8 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:59 UTC.
2 heavy rain, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
There was a 24 hour total of 1.75 inches of rain. Observer location Oroville.
There was a 24 hour total of 1.30 inches of rain, snowfall 0.7 inches at Pacific House.
A wall cloud a few miles to the north of a weather spotter was seen rising and descending. No contact with the ground or defined funnels were observed. Observer location was 2 NE Galt.
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, 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: 609714, 609715, 609711.