Name: High Wind in California, May 7, 2019
Start: 2019-05-07T21:40
End: 2019-05-07T21:40
Location: California

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 upper level system dropped southeast over the Great Basin during the afternoon and evening hours of May 7. This system interacted with an upper ridge over the northeast Pacific to produce a strong pressure gradient which resulted in a period of gusty winds around Tehachapi and Lake Isabella as well as across the Kern County Deserts. Several stations reported wind gusts exceeding 45 mph while the Mojave airport had a few gusts nearing 60 mph. Winds diminished during overnight on May 8 as the upper level system moved into the Desert Southwest region.

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 7, 1:15 PM PST, 8 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 1:15 PM PST, 8 hours 25 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service San Joaquin Valley - Hanford CA
215 PM PDT Tue May 7 2019

.SYNOPSIS...
A low pressure system over Southern California will provide
near normal temperatures and unsettled weather over the Southern
Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills this week. Increased chances
of showers and thunderstorms, especially in the higher
elevations, are expected into Saturday.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
A pretty stagnant pattern continues to remain in place over the
western CONUS. A rex type blocking pattern continues to slow down
the progression of systems through the atmosphere. This block is
created when you have an upper level low below (southward) of a
upper level ridge in the northern hemisphere. The upper level
ridge remains over the far eastern Pacific just off the west
coast. The upper level low is currently spinning over Arizona.
However, another upper low develops further west immediately south
of the ridging over the Pacific around 30N 130W and is related to
the weakness over the southwest from the low currently in Arizona.
This development will support the blocky pattern and allow it to
continue at least through the weekend. Keep in mind that guidance
we like to use has a horrible time with these blocky patterns.
Usually, the forecast timing is impacted the most. Models try to
be too progressive with things, because this is usually what
happens when there is no block present. This is why as we go out
in time, a system looking to move eastward in the guidance will
remain in place longer in the next model run. The good thing about
this pattern is that persistence forecasting usually is best,
however in the longer term the accuracy and confidence really
drops. Therefore, I will not spend time looking too far out and
will concentrate on the shorter term, in other words the next few
days.

With this in mind with the troughiness present over the region
well into the weekend, we look for continued cooling with
temperatures kept near normal, increase in clouds, and daily
chances of showers and thunderstorms, especially over the higher
elevations. With the proper flow it would not be impossible for a
thunderstorm to form over the higher elevations and move into
valley areas. However, the best chances will be over the mountain
areas. With the lower pressure stationed inland there will be
daily marine intrusions in the overnight hours. These intrusions
can increase winds in the coastal pass areas and in the Kern
County mountain passes and desert areas. However, gusts do not
look to reach advisory criteria at this time.

&&

.AVIATION...
VFR conditions will prevail at MCE, MER, FAT, VIS, and BFL through
at least the next 24 hours. A few showers and thunderstorms are
possible over the southern Sierra Nevada through 04Z Wednesday.

&&

.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...
NONE.
&&

public...Andersen
avn/fw...BSO
synopsis...Andersen

weather.gov/hanford

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 7, 9:25 PM PST, 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
1025 PM PDT TUE MAY 7 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1000 PM     NON-TSTM WND GST 2 ENE MOJAVE            35.07N 118.15W
05/07/2019  M58 MPH          KERN               CA   AWOS

            AWOS STATION KMHV MOJAVE AIRPORT.

&&

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Kern County Desert

When: May 7, 9:40 PM PST
Where: Kern County Desert forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by: AWOS

The Mojave airport AWOS reported a peak wind gust of 60 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

More

Every storm in California in 2019 Every state in 2019 This day in weather history Warnings in California, May 2019

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: 812236.