Heavy Snow, Kern Cty Mtns
- When
- May 6, 8:00 AM PST to 10:43 PM PST
- Where
- Kern Cty Mtns forecast zone
- Reported by
- Social Media
Report on Facebook of 6 inches of snow at Pine Mountain Club.
Heavy Snow in California, May 6, 2017
A closed low pressure system moved southward along the California coast on the 6th then turned inland and crossed northern Baja on the 7th. This system produced widespread showers across the area on the evening of the 6th through the morning of the 7th.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
A closed low pressure system moved southward along the California coast on the 6th then turned inland and crossed northern Baja on the 7th. This system produced widespread showers across the area on the evening of the 6th through the morning of the 7th. After skies cleared out, isolated thunderstorms broke out over the mountain areas in Tulare and Kern Counties during the afternoon of the 7th in a cool and unstable airmass. Most locations in the San Joaquin Valley, southern Sierra foothills and Kern County Mountains picked up between 1 and 3 tenths of an inch of rain while the Southern Sierra Nevada picked up between a quarter to half an inch of liquid precipitation with the precipitation mainly falling as snow above 5500 feet.
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 May 6, 4:25 AM PST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 6, 4:25 AM PST, 3 hours 35 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion...CORRECTED National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley - Hanford CA 525 AM PDT Sat May 6 2017 .SYNOPSIS... A radical change in temperatures this weekend will occur. As a strong area of low pressure moves south and hugs the coast, showers and a few thunderstorms will develop, especially over the mountains. Temperatures rebound next week as the low slowly departs. && .DISCUSSION... Stacked low pressure closing off and deepening will be responsible for much cooler weather this weekend, with the chance for showers and some thunderstorms, with anomalously cold air aloft for this time of year. Snow levels will be lowest tonight, to about 7000 feet allowing for some accumulations as much as 6 inches total this weekend along the High Sierra, with smaller amounts along the highest elevations of Kern County where snow levels may fall to 4500 feet. Guidance sometimes struggles with reducing snow levels fast enough in this type of regime, so will trend a little more pessimistic in this region to start Sunday. Sunday morning appears to be the most likely timeframe for precipitation into parts of the southern San Joaquin Valley although showers can't be ruled out through Monday as low pressure remains nearly stationary over southern California. Winds will continue to be gusty this early morning through Pacheco Pass and the NW parts of the valley. Gusty winds are also expected later today through the deserts, nearing Wind Advisory criteria around 35 kts at times through southeastern Kern. Rain amounts are expected to remain light in the valley with a third to a half inch in the higher elevations and parts of Kern county. Heavier amounts are possible with any thunderstorms which develop along the elevations, some of which could be slow movers. The blocky upper pattern finally begins to modify into the middle of next week, although these configurations are not too uncommon across the conus this time of year. A drier warmer period, with only slight chcs of showers or thunderstorms across the highest elevations is expected by the middle of next week. && .AVIATION... Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible in the Sierra Nevada this afternoon. Gusty winds up to 20 kts are possible in the San Joaquin Valley with possible MVFR in blowing dust. Gusts up to 35 kts are possible through the Kern county mountain passes and deserts later today. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... None. && .CERTAINTY... The level of certainty for days 1 and 2 is medium. 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...Mattarochia avn/fw...DCH synopsis...Mattarochia weather.gov/hanford
Event by event
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Heavy Snow
- Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, May 6, 2017
- Wildfire in Arizona, May 6 to 9, 2017
- Damaging Winds in Utah, May 6, 2017
- Damaging Wind and Strong Wind in Nevada, May 6 to 8, 2017
- Damaging Winds in New Mexico, May 6, 2017
- Flooding in New York, May 6 to 7, 2017
- Flood in Utah, May 6 to 13, 2017
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, May 6, 2017
- Damaging Winds in Idaho, May 6, 2017
- Hail in Colorado, May 6, 2017
- Flash Flood and Flood in Illinois, May 6 to 8, 2017
- High Wind in Arizona, May 6, 2017
More
Every storm in California in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 2017
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: 693235.