The second of a series of winter storms moved through central California from the afternoon of January 6 through the early morning of January 7. While this storm produced another round of rain and higher elevation snow across the area with many locations in the southern Sierra Nevada picking up between 1 to 2 inches of liquid precipitation, the main impact from this storm was strong winds were…
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.
The second of a series of winter storms moved through central California from the afternoon of January 6 through the early morning of January 7. While this storm produced another round of rain and higher elevation snow across the area with many locations in the southern Sierra Nevada picking up between 1 to 2 inches of liquid precipitation, the main impact from this storm was strong winds were most noticed across the San Joaquin Valley where several trees and power lines were blown down or knocked over.
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 Jan 6, 3:15 PM PST, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley - Hanford CA 315 PM PST Sun Jan 6 2019 .SYNOPSIS... A storm system moving through the area this weekend will result in periods of rain and mountain snow. Unsettled conditions will prevail for much of next week with another potential storm impacting the area beginning Tuesday. && .DISCUSSION... The second in a series of storms is currently at the door-steps of Central California. This storm will keep winter weather in progress across the region as rain and snow is starting to push into the district around midday. While regional doppler radar imagery is showing moderate to heavy showers to the north and west of the district, the trend will be to have these showers enter the district before sunset and spread further into the area during the night. Based on surface observations from around the area, current snow levels remain around 4000 feet as a moderate to strong southerly wind flow blows in the warm sector ahead of the cold front still expected to push in on Monday. Therefore, will not expect snow in the foothills as the trend will be to have snow levels rise during the night. Still, a winter storm warning will remain in effect for the overnight hours above 4000 feet for the Sierra Nevada down the Kern County line. With this storm, winds will be a bigger concern over what occurred on Saturday. While surface pressure gradients from KSFO and KLAS on offshore at near 5mb, the addition of a jet max will support strong winds in across the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite. This pattern does not support the same strong winds across Kern County. Therefore, Kern County Mountains and Deserts will still out of the high winds regime. Therefore, with stronger surface winds, the combination of snow and winds will warrant the issance of the Winter Storm warning. Model confidence remains high for the short term events of Winter Weather (rain and snow) and high winds. Based on a comparison of observations verses model progs, the current trend of a continuation of moderate to heavy snow along with strong winds seem reasonable for the overnight hours. With this, will keep the current suite of products related to snow and winds in place for the overnight periods. After day-break on Monday, confidence is high that the events will come to an end as models prog the introduction of a ridge over the West Coast. Therefore, will maintain a dry period in place for Monday and Tuesday with only lingering showers on Monday for the Mountains. Before the next storm near the midweek period, fog may become a concern for the San Joaquin Valley. Timing of the midweek storm may allow for at least one moring of a stable atmosphere to set-up and potentially produce fog across the valley. During the day on Tuesday, clouds will start rolling-in ahead of the next storm to affect Central California. Along with the clouds, winds may trend upward to dissipate any further fog development as precipitation potential increases. By Tuesday night, precipitation may start across the region and spread south through the district during the overnight hours. Confidence remains high on the midweek storm in both magnitude and timing. Therefore, will allow the current Winter Storm Warning ride before issuing another product for Wintry conditions across the Mountains. Based on the track of the of each storm showing similar characteristics, confidence will remain high that similar rain and snow amounts will be achieved for the series of unsettled conditions expected for much of the week. With that, models are now indicating the potential for yet another storm to hit Central California toward next weekend. At this point, storm cycle is at a rate of two (almost three) a week which supports the longer term outlooks of normal to above normal precipitation in the six to ten day period. Therefore, the main message for now is a continuation of a wet period through at least the middle of January. && .AVIATION... Areas of MVFR conditions in showers, with local IFR and mountain obscurations and in heavier precipitation. Showers will increase in coverage after 22Z today as another storm system moves into the region. && .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.html for additional information an/or to provide feedback. && .HNX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Winter Storm Warning until 4 AM PST Monday CAZ096-097. Wind Advisory until 4 AM PST Monday CAZ089>091-093. && public/fw/synopsis...Molina avn...JDB weather.gov/hanford
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
515 PM PST SUN JAN 6 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0453 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 2 WSW MERCED 37.28N 120.51W
01/06/2019 M39 MPH MERCED CA ASOS
ASOS STATION MCE, MERCED AIRPORT.
&&
BSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
546 PM PST SUN JAN 6 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0532 PM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 N MERCED 37.31N 120.49W
01/06/2019 M41 MPH MERCED CA MESONET
MESONET STATION F0864, CENTRAL MERCED.
&&
BS10 strong wind, 3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
California Highway Patrol reported a tree blocking the eastbound lane at West Bellevue Road and State Route 59 5NNW Merced.
The AWOS at the Castle Airport in Atwater reported a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
California Highway Patrol reported a palm tree was blown into power lines at the intersection of Herrod Ave and Southern Pacific Ave in Atwater.
California Highway Patrol reported a large tree on the road near the intersection of Auberry Road and Beal Fire Road 3E Auberry.
California Highway Patrol reported a tree down on the road near the intersection of Peterson Road and Tollhouse Road 5SW Shaver Lake.
California Highway Patrol reported power lines downed on State Route 152 2WSW Los Banos.
California Highway Patrol reported trees downed on the roadway near the intersection of East Westfall Road and Old Mill Road 7ESE Midpines.
California Highway Patrol reported a large tree down across the roadway near the intersection of Trindale Road and Belcher Ave 3ESE Atwater.
California Highway Patrol reported a power line hanging across the roadway near the intersection of Snelling Road and La Paloma Road 7N Merced.
California Highway Patrol reported a tree branch blocking both lanes of the roadway near the intersection of State Highway 99 and V Street in Merced.
California Highway Patrol reported a tree blocking the southbound lane near the intersection of Los Banos Highway and East Washington Road 12NE Dos Palos.
California Highway Patrol reported an empty semi truck was blown over just west of the Inyokern Airport.
A 67 mph wind gust was measured in Ridgecrest with a Davis Vantage Pro Weather Station and reported on Facebook.
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, January 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 792092, 792094, 792096, 792097, 792098, 792099, 792100, 792101, 792103, 792107, 792110, 792113, 792114.