Dense Fog in California, December 1, 2018

Name: Dense Fog in California, December 1, 2018
Start: 2018-12-01T07:35
End: 2018-12-01T09:15
Location: California

December 1, 2018 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Patches on dense fog formed during the morning of December 1 in Tulare County. The fog completely dissipated by late morning as an incoming frontal boundary mixed out the atmosphere.

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.

Patches on dense fog formed during the morning of December 1 in Tulare County. The fog completely dissipated by late morning as an incoming frontal boundary mixed out the atmosphere. Rain and higher elevations snow spread across the region by the afternoon of December 1 with much of the San Joaquin Valley picking up between one and two tenths of an inch of rainfall. Much of the Southern Sierra Nevada picked up between a quarter to three quarters of an inch of precipitation while elevations above 5000 feet picked up between 5 and 10 inches of snowfall north of Kings Canyon and between 3 and 5 inches of snowfall south of Kings Canyon.

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 1, 4:38 AM PST, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 1, 4:38 AM PST, 2 hours 57 minutes before

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Event by event

1 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.

Dense Fog, Se S.J. Valley

When: December 1, 7:35 AM PST to 9:15 AM PST
Where: Se S.J. Valley forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS

Visibility below a quarter mile was reported in Visalia.

What these are

Dense Fog: Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in California in 2018 Every state in 2018 This day in weather history Warnings in California, December 2018

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 788232.