A large upper low pressure system dropped slowly southward off the California coast on the first two days of December. The low pulled up a fetch of deep moisture from the southwest which streamed through central California and brought periods of moderate to heavy precipitation across the area mainly from Fresno County northward.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 HNX wrote it up.
A large upper low pressure system dropped slowly southward off the California coast on the first two days of December. The low pulled up a fetch of deep moisture from the southwest which streamed through central California and brought periods of moderate to heavy precipitation across the area mainly from Fresno County northward. Several stations in the Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills as well as the central San Joaquin Valley picked up between 1 and 3 inches of rain. Snow levels were high with this system and finally lowered to around 7000 feet by the time the precipitation tapered off on the 2nd. Several SNOTEL stations over the higher elevations in the Southern Sierra Nevada picked up between 6 and 12 inches of new snowfall. Further south, the precipitation was less significant with some stations picking up between a quarter and half of an inch of rain. The rainfall did produce some nuisance flooding from Fresno county northward and caused a multi vehicle accident along State Route 99 north of Fresno.
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 Nov 30, 12:58 PM PST, 11 hours 2 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Moderate to heavy rain caused a multiple vehicle accident on SR 99 just north of Fresno. Some of the individuals who had occupied the cars in the crash were then struck by a drunk driver which killed one of the individuals.
A spotter near Ponderosa Basin reported a combination of 3.41 inches of melted snow and rain.
Trained spotter near Ponderosa Basin reported an additional 1.13 inches of rainfall since the morning of December 1.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Rain, Fresno | 2019-12-01 | Outside/Open Areas | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2019
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: 858720, 858721, 858722.