A wet storm brought thunderstorms with heavy rain creating large puddles on roads and minor urban flooding, especially over portions of the northern Sacramento Valley and northeast foothills. Wind 40-50 mph brought down trees causing some power outages.
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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 wet storm brought thunderstorms with heavy rain creating large puddles on roads and minor urban flooding, especially over portions of the northern Sacramento Valley and northeast foothills. Wind 40-50 mph brought down trees causing some power outages. There was 4-8 of snow above 6000 feet, up to 10 inches of snow over the highest peaks. Snow brought a period of chain controls to I80 and Highway 5.
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 Jan 17, 4:34 AM PST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 434 AM PST SUN JAN 17 2016 .SYNOPSIS... The next system bringing wind, rain and snow into interior northern California today and Monday. Some small scale and/or burn scar flooding could occur this afternoon and tonight. Expect periods of precipitation throughout the coming week. .SHORT TERM DISCUSSION (Today through Wednesday)... Impressive moisture plume on satellite just off the west coast. Behind this system is another vorticity max near 150W that should impact the area on Tuesday. The initial precipitation will be warm air advection rain with snow generally above 6500 ft. Chester is still at 32F, and although temperature will climb a bit in the warm air advection, snowfall may occur within pockets of cold air at lower elevations over the northern Sierra. At any rate we issued a winter storm warning above 6500 ft for 6-12 inches over the Sierra, and even higher amounts over Lassen Peak. Winds will increase later this morning in response to the tightening surface pressure gradient ahead of the front, so issued a wind advisory for much of the Sacramento Valley and adjacent northeast foothills (eastward of Redding and Red Bluff). Heaviest rain band will move into the north valley by late morning and sag south to the southern valley by evening. We also added the Butte and King burn areas to the flask flood/debris flow watches later today and tonight. A watch just means that excessive rain could lead to debris flows and/or localized flash flooding, but not imminent. As mentioned above, the next system arrives Tuesday with not really much of a break Monday night. We will see more rain/snow, but not quite as much as today and Monday. Ridging builds in briefly on Wednesday with a few more sun rays and slightly warmer temperatures. JClapp .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Thursday THROUGH Sunday) Unsettled weather pattern will continue late this week and next weekend as several storms move into NorCal from the Pacific. Forecast timing will likely fluctuate over the next several days under this progressive pattern, but confidence is high in both a late-week and weekend storm over the region. Snow levels will generally remain around 5000-7000 feet before lowering next weekend. Temperatures will be close to average for mid-January. && .AVIATION... Next Pacific frontal system moves through NorCal during the next 24 hours with widespread MVFR and local IFR conditions developing over the Central Valley and widespread IFR conditions over higher terrain. Snow levels 065-075. Southerly wind gusts 25-35 kts developing in the Central Valley with southwesterly gusts over 40 kts over higher terrain. && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Winter Storm Warning from 2 PM this afternoon to 10 AM PST Monday for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada. Wind Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 10 PM PST this evening for Central Sacramento Valley-Northeast Foothills/Sacramento Valley-Northern Sacramento Valley-Southern Sacramento Valley. Flash Flood Watch from 1 PM PST this afternoon through late tonight for Clear Lake/Southern Lake County-Motherlode-Sierra Mountains south of Interstate 80. &&
The Reno radar (KRGX), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:00 UTC.
5 heavy rain, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm total of 15 inches of snow was reported at Boreal Ski Resort, 16 inches at Sugarbowl Ski Resort.
Precipitation total since morning of 1/18 was 3 inches of slushy snow followed rain. There was a total of 1.85 inches of rain in Kingvale.
There was heavy rain between Whiskeytown and Redding, 0.60 to 0.87 in about an hour, causing water on roads with slippery conditions to bring traffic slowdowns.
There was a total of 0.87 inches of a rain since midnight at Rancho Cordova.
There were 2.00 inches of rainfall measured at Vacaville.
A spotter in Sims measured 1.55 inches of rain over 24 hours.
A large tree fell blocking the courtyard of the Capitol Towers apartments in downtown Sacramento.
Part of a tree fell onto Saverien Drive, blocking the right turn lane.
The main Lake Don Pedro Marina (LDPM) sustained damage to its structure that led to the evacuation of its employees until the weather system died down. The facility was closed for repairs.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2016
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 617448, 617357, 617355, 617360, 617364, 617366, 617417, 617418, 617416.