Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2016

Name: Drought in California, January 1 to 31, 2016
Start: 2016-01-01T00:00
End: 2016-01-31T23:59
Location: California

January 1 to 31, 2016 · NWS HNX · 11 events in 11 counties and zones

The California drought continues in full force during the month of January, 2016. 95 of precipitation during the month.

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 continues in full force during the month of January, 2016. Fresno received 4.42 inch of rainfall while Bakersfield only received 1.95 of precipitation during the month. Even with these rainfall amount there has been little response in water storage across Central California.

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 general trend of below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures has continued this year.

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, 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. Also, communities in Central California interior face state mandated reductions in municipal water use.

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 Dec 31, 2:31 PM PST, 9 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 2:31 PM PST, 9 hours 29 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
231 PM PST THU DEC 31 2015

.SYNOPSIS...
DRY WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE WEEKEND WITH SEASONABLY COOL
AFTERNOONS AND COLD NIGHTS. A SUCCESSION OF STORM SYSTEMS TRACKING
EASTWARD FROM THE PACIFIC WILL BRING WET WEATHER TO MUCH OF THE
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR NEXT WEEK.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
ANOTHER CLEAR AND COLD DAY ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR
AS A BLOCKING HIGH PATTERN BEGINS TO TAKE HOLD OF THE WEST COAST.
AT THIS POINT...THE COLDEST AIR IS NOW SITTING OVER THE GREAT
BASIN OF NEVADA...ALLOWING FOR A GOOD TEMPERATURE/PRESSURE
GRADIENTS IN THE OFFSHORE DIRECTION. THEREFORE...AN OFFSHORE /EAST
WIND/ FLOW HAS DEVELOPED WITH A MODERATELY STRONG GRADIENT FROM
THE MOJAVE DESERT TO THE LOS ANGELES BASIN. WITH THIS...STRONG
WINDS ALONG THE TEHACHAPI MOUNTAIN RIDGE LINE HAVE DEVELOPED WITH
BREEZY CONDITIONS /GUSTS TO 20 MPH/ OUT IN THE KERN DESERTS. MOST
OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AND HIGHER TERRAIN LACK THE SAME
TEMP/PRESSURE GRADIENT...THEREFORE...WINDS WILL REMAIN LIGHTER
FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS WEEK.

WHILE TEMPERATURES OVER THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR WILL
REMAIN COLD...THE INFLUENCE OF OF THE RIDGE PATTERN ARE NOW BEING
FELT AS MINIMUM TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO SLOWLY RISE. THE AERIAL
COVERAGE OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES DECREASED FROM THE COVERAGE ON
WEDNESDAY MORNING. THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE AS THE POTENTIAL FOR A
HARD FREEZE WILL BE VERY MINIMAL FRIDAY MORNING...BUT NOT OUT OF
THE QUESTION FOR A FEW SPOTS OVER SOUTHWEST KINGS AND WESTERN KERN
COUNTIES. BY SATURDAY MORNING...FURTHER LOW LEVEL WARM AIR WILL
FILTER INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA MAKING FREEZING TEMPERATURES LESS
POSSIBLE.

FRIDAY WILL SEE AN UPPER LOW RETROGRADE INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
WHILE TOO WEAK AND LACKING MOISTURE...THE UPPER LOW MAY ALLOW A
FEW CLOUDS TO FORM AROUND THE YOSEMITE AREA. YET...THIS UPPER LOW
WILL BECOME ASSOCIATED WITH A REX BLOCKING PATTERN THAT WILL STEER
THE NEXT WEATHER DISTURBANCE TOWARD A MORE SOUTHERLY DIRECTION.
MODELS ARE SHOWING BETTER CONFIDENCE IN PROGGING A MORE SOUTHERLY
STORM TO HIT THE AREA LATER ON SUNDAY INTO MONDAY. WHILE MODELS
SHOW HIGHER UNCERTAINTY IN THE AMPLITUDE OF THE TROF STRENGTH...
THEY SHOW LOW UNCERTAINTY IN THE TIMING OF THE TROF PASSAGE INTO
THE REGION. THEREFORE...WILL PLACE LOWER CHANCES OF POTENTIAL FOR
PRECIP IN THE SUNDAY NIGHT/EARLY MONDAY MORNING TIMEFRAME. WILL
THEN TREND UPWARD ON MONDAY BEFORE THE BULK OF THE PRECIP REACHES
THE AREA ON MONDAY AFTERNOON/MONDAY NIGHT. FURTHERMORE...MODELS
PLACE HIGHER VALUES OF PRECIP-WATER OVER THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
COAST BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL ADD SUPPORT FOR SIGNIFICANT
PRECIP FOR THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK.

BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY IN THE AMPLITUDE OF THE TROF EARLY NEXT
WEEK...THE BULK OF THE ENERGY MAY NOT HIT THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
AREA. THEREFORE..,WHILE PRECIP WILL BE OBSERVED OVER CENTRAL
CALIFORNIA...AMOUNTS WILL BE HIGHLY UNCERTAIN. BEHIND THE FIRST
STORM WILL BE A SECOND TROF HITS THE CALIFORNIA COAST LATE TUESDAY
NIGHT. THEREFORE...WILL NOT TERMINATE MONDAY NIGHT STORM AND JUST
CONTINUE THE PROB OF PRECIP INTO WEDNESDAY. MODELS SHOW A
CONTINUATION OF UNSETTLED CONDITIONS INTO FRIDAY. THEREFORE...
WHILE UNCERTAINTY REMAINS HIGH FOR THE LATER PERIOD STORMS...WILL
KEEP THE PROB OF PRECIP AT HIGHER LEVELS AS THE SOUTHERLY STORMS
MAINTAIN HIGHER MOISTURE LEVELS.

&&

.AVIATION...
AREAS MVFR VSBYS WITH ISOLATED IFR/LIFR CONDITIONS DUE TO FOG IN THE
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AFTER 06Z FRIDAY. VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL
ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR DURING THE NEXT
24 HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
ON FRIDAY JANUARY 1 2016...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 HIGH.
THE LEVEL OF CERTAINTY FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7 IS MEDIUM.

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 12-31       69:1997     36:1929     53:1913     23:1975
KFAT 01-01       69:1998     39:1988     59:1997     21:1976
KFAT 01-02       70:1948     36:1961     57:1997     20:1976

KBFL 12-31       73:1913     39:1919     53:1981     19:1929
KBFL 01-01       74:1997     39:1961     57:1997     19:1930
KBFL 01-02       82:2012     37:1961     57:1997     19:1930
&&

.HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.

&&

PUBLIC...MOLINA
AVN/FW...DS
SYNOPSIS...WP

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Event by event

11 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, W Central S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: W Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, E Central S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: E Central S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Sw S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Sw S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Se S.J. Valley

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, S Sierra Foothills

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Tulare Cty Foothills

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Foothills forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Kern Cty Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, S Sierra Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: S Sierra Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Tulare Cty Mtns

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Tulare Cty Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Indian Wells Vly

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 11:59 PM PST
Where: Indian Wells Vly forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager

Drought, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: January 1, 12:00 AM PST to January 31, 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 2016 Every state in 2016 This day in weather history Warnings in California, January 2016

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: 616923, 616925, 616926, 616927, 616929, 616930, 616931, 616932, 616933, 616934, 616935.