An upper level trough brought wet weather to northern California for the holiday. 25 inches to nearly 3 inches of rain.
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 STO wrote it up.
An upper level trough brought wet weather to northern California for the holiday. Precipitation ended up being light with the Valley rain totals ranging from 0.10 inches to roughly 1.0 while the foothills and mountains range varied from roughly a 0.25 inches to nearly 3 inches of rain. For snow, reports were hard to come by, but ranged from 1 to 8 inches.
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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 25, 4:42 AM PST, 5 hours 18 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 442 AM PST Fri Dec 25 2020 .SYNOPSIS... A winter storm impacts the area Christmas Day into the weekend with winter weather travel impacts likely over the mountain passes this evening through Saturday. && .DISCUSSION... Increasing cloud cover has prevented dense fog formation for most of the area, exception has been over Stanislaus county including Modesto where visibilities have been falling to 1/4 sm at times. Expect this fog to lift also this morning, as clouds increase. Trough moving east from the Pacific will spread rain and mountain snow into the area through the day, continuing through Saturday morning. Activity will diminish to showers over the Sierra with travel impacts lingering during the Saturday afternoon. Heavy snow will develop this morning mainly over the higher elevations of the Coast Range and Shasta County mountains, although accumulations of 4 to 8 inches are possible along Interstate 5 north of Redding from Sims to Dunsmuir. Precipitation will spread over the northern Sierra during the afternoon and evening. Snow levels in the western Sierra are forecast to be from 4000 to 5000 feet with heaviest snow falling above 5000 feet. 8 to 14 inches of snow is expected at pass level with up to 2 feet over the higher peaks. There will be slightly lower snow totals progressing south along the Sierra with the heaviest amounts along and north of Interstate 80. Significant travel impacts are expected along mountain passes due to heavy snow, periods of lower visibilities due to gusty winds, and increased holiday traffic. A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for the impacted areas through Saturday. Travel is highly discouraged during this time. Expect chain controls, significant travel delays, and possible road closures. The heaviest snow and potential period of greatest travel delays will be from 7 pm to 3 am tonight. A brief break in the significant precip will be possible Saturday afternoon and Sunday before another system digs southeast into California from the Gulf of Alaska Sunday night into Monday. There is more uncertainty on the track of this system as recent models have trended farther south, more into Central California than Northern California with the main impact being south of Highway 50 into the Central Sierra. Impacts from this system appear to be less than the current storm with 3 to 6 inches of snow currently forecasted, although snow levels will be a bit lower, down to 3,000 feet. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Tuesday THROUGH Friday)... A break in the wet weather will be possible Tuesday and Wednesday before the active pattern resumes Thursday and beyond. The next significant storm looks possible around New Years day, but timing differences exist between GFS and Euro, so will lean on NBM to cover details. Temperatures will be near normal through the extended with Valley highs in the low and mid 50's. && .AVIATION... Locally reduced visbys/cigs this morning mainly limited to the southern Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Valley due to fog/mist. A weather system will move from NW to SE today bringing rain and mountain snow to NorCal with widespread MVFR conditions and local IFR conditions likely thru. Southerly winds may gust up to 20 knots after 00Z mainly at RDD/RBL. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning from 4 PM this afternoon to 4 PM PST Saturday for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada-Western Plumas County/Lassen Park. Winter Storm Warning from 10 AM this morning to 10 AM PST Saturday for Mountains Southwestern Shasta County to Western Colusa County. Winter Storm Warning from 10 AM this morning to 10 AM PST Saturday for Shasta Lake Area / Northern Shasta County. &&
1 winter storm, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A few ski resorts reported between 4 to 10 inches of new snow accumulation for this event. Dodge Ridge and Sierra-at-Tahoe reported 4 inches, Kirkwood and Soda Springs reported 8 inches, and Sugar Bowl reported 10 inches.
The COOP observer at Pacific House reported 1 inch of total snow accumulation.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 2020
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: 934888, 934889.