Several storms fueled with moisture by an atmospheric river brought heavy rain and mountain snow, along with gusty winds. Some minor urban and small stream flooding occurred, mainly over the northern Sacramento Valley.
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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.
Several storms fueled with moisture by an atmospheric river brought heavy rain and mountain snow, along with gusty winds. Some minor urban and small stream flooding occurred, mainly over the northern Sacramento Valley. Snow levels were initially high, above pass levels, then dropped to as low as 3000 feet by the end of the event.
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 28, 4:26 AM PST, 2 hours 34 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 426 AM PST THU JAN 28 2016 .SYNOPSIS... Light showers across far Norcal today with valley fog this morning. Heavier precipitation Friday with high snow levels. Lower snow levels Friday evening and Saturday with possible travel issues over the Sierra. &&. .DISCUSSION... Upper ridging over western U.S. starting to break down as a weak frontal system moves into the Pacific Northwest. Radar showing some weak echos moving into Shasta and Tehama county this morning but no precipitation has been recorded yet. Farther south...under clearer skies...valley fog has formed over night from about Sacramento southward. With cloud cover spreading southward...widespread dense fog is not likely but some patchy dense fog is. As the tail end of todays front drags across norcal light showers will be possible north of about Marysville. Snow levels will remain high at above 8000 feet and precipitation amounts will be light so no significant impacts expected today. IR satellite image now showing a batch of moisture between about 140 and 150 west. This moisture is forecast to move into norcal Friday morning bringing precipitation across the whole north state through the day Friday. Significant moisture is associated with this system with TPW values of moisture tap at nearly an inch and a half. Dynamics with this system are fairly weak however so valley will likely only see light rain while higher elevation orographics squeeze out more significant precipitation. Snow levels remain high at above 8000 feet on Friday so impacts over the mountains remain limited. Next disturbance forecast to move through the north state Friday night and Saturday will be significantly cooler as Gulf of Alaska air digs southward. Snow levels Friday night and early Saturday drop to below 5000 feet. Latest forecasts models show bulk of moisture with this system a little farther south and as a result...heaviest snowfall is likely to remain south of the Cascade range. Therefore...have limited Winter storm watch now in affect to the northern Sierra with lighter amounts of snow over the Cascades to the north. Upper trough drops across the north state on Sunday so expect scattered showers to continue for the second half of the weekend. Models showing some instability with this disturbance over the Sacramento valley on Sunday afternoon so have included a slight threat of thunderstorms. A look at a couple forecast soundings indicates little in the way of low level shear so would not expect much in the way of severe weather. .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Monday THROUGH Thursday) Upper level ridge builds upstream on Monday and tries to hold into late next week. However, a few waves attempt to drop SE into NorCal within the northwesterly flow with a limit chance of precipitation Tuesday into Thursday. Snow levels would be fairly low with light accumulations possible. Thursday looks to be the day in question as the GFS and EC are 180 degrees out of phase; the GFS maintains the ridge and the EC settles with a trough over NorCal. Either way, we kept a mention of precipitation. JClapp && .AVIATION... Valley fog limited early this morning to San Joaquin Valley as mid to high clouds move overhead. Patchy, shallow IFR fog is likely to return after sunrise from Sutter Buttes southward. Light rain may begin as early as 15z in nrn Sac Valley. Precip to spread southward toward Sacramento area after 03z Fri. JClapp && .STO Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Winter Storm Watch from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy rain, 1 heavy snow, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snow amounts: Sugarbowl 15 inches, Sierra at Tahoe 18 inches, Kirkwood 11 inches, Boreal 9 inches, Bear Valley 11 inches. Snow covered roads caused travel difficulties in the mountains at times.
There was a 24 hour total of 4.11 inches of rain at Pacific House.
There was a 24 hour total of 2.41 inches of rain at kyburz.
There was a 24 hour total of 5.51 inches of rain, and 1.0 inch of new snow at Kingvale.
Ice jamming under Soda Springs Rd. caused the road to be flooded for several hours. The Serene Lakes community was inaccessible until road crews cleared the ice jam.
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 617455, 617401, 617402, 617404, 617405.