High Wind in California, October 29, 2018

Name: High Wind in California, October 29, 2018
Start: 2018-10-29T22:10
End: 2018-10-29T22:10
Location: California

October 29, 2018 · NWS HNX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A dry upper trough pushed through California on October 29. This system brought a noticeable cooling trend to the area with diurnal temperatures lowering by several degrees from the previous day and a period of strong winds along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley where there were several gusts between 30 and 40 mph and over the higher elevations of Kern County where a few locations had…

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.

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 Oct 29, 1:53 PM PST, 8 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 29, 1:53 PM PST, 8 hours 17 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley - Hanford CA
253 PM PDT Mon Oct 29 2018

.SYNOPSIS...
Dry and cooling conditions through Tuesday. High pressure will
then rebuild and temperatures will warm again through the end of
the week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Cold front has moved through the region. Temps down another 5-10
degrees from yesterday. A few high clouds associated with the
upper jet moving through with the long wave trough pushing
through. EPAC ridge slowly drifts towards the west coast by the
end of the week providing offshore flow and a gradual warming
trend into the weekend.

Models are in slight disagreement with a trough moving into the
PAC NW saturday that tries to flatten out the ridge and give us a
bit more onshore flow with a slight cooldown. Dry and warm
conditions expected through the week with no precipitation
expected.

&&

.AVIATION...
Areas of MVFR conditions and local IFR conditions in upslope clouds
in the south end of the San Joaquin Valley, and the valley facing
slopes of the Tehachapi Mountains. Otherwise, VFR conditions will
prevail throughout the central CA interior during the next 24
hours...except local MVFR in smoke near the Alder Fire in Tulare
County.

&&

.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 high.

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...JDB
avn/fw...DS
synopsis...JDB

weather.gov/hanford

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Se Kern Cty Desert

When: October 29, 10:10 PM PST
Where: Se Kern Cty Desert forecast zone
Measured: 53 kt (61 mph) measured gust
Reported by: Mesonet

Cache Creek reported a peak wind gust of 61 mph.

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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, October 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: 782657.