High Wind, Tehachapi Area
- When
- February 16, 3:27 PM PST
- Where
- Tehachapi Area forecast zone
- Measured
- 51 kt (59 mph) measured gust
- Reported by
- RAWS
The Bird Springs Pass RAWS measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph.
High Wind in California, February 16, 2020
An upper trough moved across the Pacific Northwest on February 16 which pushed a dry cold front through central California during the afternoon and evening. This produced a period of gusty winds over the Kern County Deserts and in the Tehachapi and Lake Isabella areas in the Kern County Mountains.
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.
An upper trough moved across the Pacific Northwest on February 16 which pushed a dry cold front through central California during the afternoon and evening. This produced a period of gusty winds over the Kern County Deserts and in the Tehachapi and Lake Isabella areas in the Kern County Mountains. Several stations reported gusts exceeding 40 mph and a few locations briefly had gusts above 50 mph.
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 Feb 16, 1:50 PM PST, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 16, 1:50 PM PST, 1 hour 37 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 150 PM PST Sun Feb 16 2020 .UPDATE...Updated air quality section. && SYNOPSIS...Windy conditions will develop through and below the Kern County mountain passes and into the desert today and through tonight. Dry weather will continue over the area through at least Friday with above normal temperatures for the middle of February. && DISCUSSION... The atmospheric block over the eastern Pacific looks to hang tough and will continue to remain in control for the next several days and possibly longer. With any blocky pattern the guidance typically struggles and this time is no different. Previous runs of the guidance about a week ago had advertised the possibility of rain moving into the area for today which never materialized. The weak system that will move through this evening will only bring breezy to gusty winds for some parts of the area but alas no precipitation. The wind advisory for the Kern County mountains and parts of the desert below the mountain passes address this issue. This teasing by the guidance has been the story lately as the amount of moisture and strength of the systems is continually being over estimated about a week out. So even the models are injecting hope in the longer term. Unfortunately, it has been false hope which really does not help much. Another weak system passage is progged to move southward on the eastern side of the large blocking ridge on Wednesday but looks to only amount to another dry but breezy/gusty passage. There is also indications that a cutoff closed low develops off the coast of southern California and moves eastward through SOCAL. This looks to only amount to an increase in clouds for the southern part of our CWA and maybe some winds but nothing more. I will say that confidence is not high in the longer term of the forecast for the reasons discussed above. Fool me once shame on you and fool me twice shame on me mentality is now in play. So I take the longer range forecast with a big grain of salt due to the recent performance of guidance. This block has been very strong and there are indications that it may be here to stay at least through the later part of the month. Not good hydrologically speaking. However, to end on a positive note, dry weather, lack of valley fog, and above normal temperatures does make for nice weather. && AVIATION...In the San Joaquin Valley, areas of MVFR and local IFR 12z through 17Z Mon in haze and mist. Otherwise, VFR conditions will prevail across the Central CA interior during the next 24 hours. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... On Monday February 17 2020... Fireplace/Wood Stove Burning Status is: No Burning Unless Registered in Fresno... Kern... Kings... Madera and Tulare Counties. Further information is available at Valleyair.org && 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... Wind Advisory until 10 AM PST Monday for CAZ196>199. && public...Andersen aviation....Andersen weather.gov/hanford
Event by event
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
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 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2020
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: 869717.