Drought in California, March 1 to 31, 2016

Name: Drought in California, March 1 to 31, 2016
Start: 2016-03-01T00:00
End: 2016-03-31T23:59
Location: California

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

The California drought continues during the month of March, 2016. 45 inch 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 during the month of March, 2016. Fresno received 2.93 inch of rainfall while Bakersfield only received 0.45 inch of precipitation during the month. Increased precipitation and slightly above normal temperatures we received this month did allow for some snow melt to occur. This did improve the water storage situation slightly, however soil moisture did increase across the San Joaquin Valley north of Kern County due to the increase in rainfall.

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 Feb 29, 1:39 PM PST, 10 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 29, 1:39 PM PST, 10 hours 21 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
139 PM PST MON FEB 29 2016

.SYNOPSIS...
DRY WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MIDWEEK WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING
TO WELL ABOVE NORMAL. A WEAK WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE TO OUR NORTH
ON THURSDAY BRINGING MORE SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE END OF
THE WEEK. A STRONGER SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE REGION LATE
SATURDAY AND INTO SUNDAY.

&&

.DISCUSSION...LATEST SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW MAINLY CLEAR SKIES OVER
THE CENTRAL CA INTERIOR. TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN TRENDING SLIGHTLY
WARMER COMPARED TO THIS TIME YESTERDAY. WE ARE NOT ANTICIPATING
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES DUE TO FOG DEVELOPMENT...ALTHOUGH A FEW
LOCALES MAY STILL SEE SOME GROUND FOG IN THE MORNINGS THROUGH THE
NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. AS THE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL REBUILD
OVER THE WESTERN US...EXPECT WELL ABOVE AVERAGE DAYTIME HIGH
TEMPERATURES TO RETURN UNTIL WEDNESDAY. DAILY MAX TEMPS MAY ONCE
AGAIN REACH NEAR OR AT RECORD HIGHS...AT LEAST ON
TUESDAY...ALTHOUGH LIKELY NOT AT BAKERSFIELD AS RECORDS THERE
REACH WELL INTO THE 80S.

TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...THEN FURTHER
COOL DURING THE WEEKEND. HIGH PRESSURE...ALTHOUGH NOT AS
STRONG WHILE IT GRADUALLY SHIFTS EASTWARD...WILL ALLOW CONTINUED
DRY CONDITIONS WITH MORE SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES THROUGH FRIDAY.
THE NEXT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT WILL GENERALLY BRING CHANCES OF
PRECIPITATION OVER NORTHERN CA COULD BRIEFLY BRUSH BY YOSEMITE
DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY BUT WILL BRING MAINLY PARTLY CLOUDY
SKIES.

ANOTHER STRONGER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO BRING MORE
WEATHER IMPACTS...INCLUDING CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION AND SLIGHTLY
BELOW AVERAGE DAYTIME TEMPERATURES FOR OUR REGION BY SATURDAY AND
INTO SUNDAY. MODELS HAVE BEEN IN GOOD AGREEMENT FOR THE LAST
SEVERAL RUNS...AT LEAST IN TERMS OF A TRANSITION TO A MORE
UNSETTLED WEATHER PATTERN...SO HAVE LEFT POPS MAINLY IN THE CHANCE
TO LIKELY CATEGORIES DURING SAT NIGHT INTO SUN. WHILE EXACT
DETAILS SUCH AS TIMING AND AMOUNTS REMAIN UNCERTAIN...PRELIMINARY
FORECAST PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS FROM VARIOUS ENSEMBLE MODEL RUNS
SHOW THE POTENTIAL FOR WET WEATHER DURING THE UPCOMING
WEEKEND. SNOW LEVELS COULD BE AROUND 7000 FEET IN THE SIERRA
NEVADA AT THE ONSET OF THE PRECIPITATION ON SAT AND EXPECTED TO
LOWER FURTHER BY SUN BUT WILL LIKELY REMAIN ABOVE 5000 FEET BY THE
TIME PRECIP IS ENDING. OTHER POTENTIAL IMPACTS INCLUDE THE
POSSIBILITY OF GUSTY WINDS ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF THE SJ VALLEY
AND KERN COUNTY MTN/DESERT AREAS. STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS AS
WE GET CLOSER.

&&

.AVIATION...
EXPECT AREAS OF MVFR VISIBILITIES WITH ISOLATED IFR CONDITIONS
POSSIBLE DUE TO HZ/BR AT TIMES IN THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY FROM AROUND
10Z THRU 17Z TUESDAY. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OVER
THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

&&

.AIR QUALITY ISSUES...
NONE.

&&

.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 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AN/OR TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK.

&&

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

PUBLIC...BSO
AVN/FW...BSO/DCH
SYNOPSIS...BSO

WEATHER.GOV/HANFORD

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 29, 6:08 AM PST, 17 hours 52 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA
608 AM PST MON FEB 29 2016

CAZ096-097-011415-
SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON-
TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
608 AM PST MON FEB 29 2016

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF
THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA.

...SNOW RETURNING FOR LATE NEXT WEEKEND...

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS: ONE TO TWO FEET POSSIBLE

* ELEVATION: ABOVE 7000 FEET

* TIMING: STARTING LATE SATURDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUING THROUGH
  SUNDAY NIGHT

* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK...SEQUOIA AND KINGS
  CANYON NATIONAL PARKS...SIERRA AND SEQUOIA NATIONAL FORESTS

* IMPACTS: SNOW COVERED ROADS WITH DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS.

* STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR YOUR FAVORITE NEWS
  SOURCE...FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY SIGNIFICANT OR
UNUSUAL CONDITIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

JDB