A cold trough from the Gulf of Alaska dropped into Northern California which brought a high impact winter storm to the region. Widespread precipitation, low snow levels of 500 to 2500 feet, and strong and damaging wind resulted.
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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.
A cold trough from the Gulf of Alaska dropped into Northern California which brought a high impact winter storm to the region. Widespread precipitation, low snow levels of 500 to 2500 feet, and strong and damaging wind resulted. Impacts ranged from fallen trees, downed power and phone lines, trecherous driving conditions including chain controls and highway closures due to wind and/or snow, multiple accidents and spin outs due to snow, widespread power outages, damaged property due to wind, and injuries. Sacramento County was investigating several homeless related deaths due to cold weather; however, no reports have come back linking the two together.
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 Jan 26, 3:57 PM PST, 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 357 PM PST Tue Jan 26 2021 .SYNOPSIS... A long duration, high impact winter storm this evening into Friday bringing periods of gusty winds and moderate to heavy rain and mountain snow, and blizzard conditions over the Northern Sierra. Potential for significant low elevation snow and damaging winds tonight and Wednesday as well as burn scar impacts to the LNU Complex and SCU Complex burn scars. && .DISCUSSION... The highly advertised strong winter storm is beginning to move into Northern California this afternoon as the upper level trough begins to move onshore. Current radar imagery shows showers moving into the forecast area along the western edge, and they are expected to expand to the east through the afternoon. Precipitation will quickly become heavy tonight. NAM 3k and HRRR are both indicating the formation of a NCFR (narrow cold frontal band) along the cold front as it moves through the area, generally after 8pm tonight through 8am tomorrow. This is expected to produce very heavy precipitation with high rain and snow rates. HREF suggests hourly snow rates with this band of 2 to 6 inches in the Sierra, including over Interstate 80 and Highway 50. Winds will also become extremely strong as the cold front passes through with damaging gusts up to 50 to 60 mph expected in the Valley up through the mountains, locally up to 70+ mph winds over higher mountain peaks. These extreme snowfall rates plus strong winds will produce extreme weather conditions and near zero to zero visibility over the Northern Sierra. Therefore, a Blizzard Warning has been issued for the Northern Sierra for elevations above 3000 feet. The Winter Storm Warning remains in effect for the remainder of the mountains, foothills, and Northern Sacramento Valley. Winds these strong plus heavy mountain snow are also likely to cause downed trees or tree branches and powerlines. Widespread power outages are possible tonight through tomorrow morning. In the Valley, rain rates around 1 to 2 inches per hour are possible overnight tonight. HREF is suggesting the best chances for the rain rain rates greater than 0.50 to 1 inch per hour will be over western Yolo County into Solano County and south into western San Joaquin and Stanislaus County, including the LNU Complex and SCU Complex burn scars. Impacts such as debris flows are definitely a concern overnight with this pattern. A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for both of those burn scars. This will be a cold storm to begin with as the trough is dropping down from the Gulf of Alaska. Snow levels will begin very low this evening through tomorrow morning, generally 500 to 2000 feet, dropping to the valley floor in the northern Sacramento Valley. Several inches of snow is forecast to the valley floor in Shasta County and Tehama County. This snow at these low levels could cause major travel delays as well as downed tree branches and localized power outages. Snow levels will rise to around 3000 feet by tomorrow afternoon, remaining locally down to 2000 feet in Shasta county. The trough axis will continue to deepen just off the California coast tomorrow, stalling the cold front over the area. Precipitation will continue through the day, though it will be lighter than overnight. Then precipitation is expected to pick up again overnight Wednesday into Thursday, heaviest along and south of Interstate 80. This could bring renewed concerns for the LNU Complex and SCU Complex burn scars, which is why the Flash Flood Watch is through 4pm Thursday. Snow levels will generally be between 3000 to 4000 feet, rising above 4000 feet during the day Thursday. Showers will continue overnight Thursday and lighter through the day on Friday, mainly over the higher elevations. -HEC && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Saturday THROUGH Tuesday)... Cluster analysis is in good agreement troughing off the Pacific Northwest Coast will continue into next week. This unsettled synoptic pattern is typical for this time of year and will bring beneficial moisture to the area. Another more impactful winter storm could reach Northern California by early next week. Preliminarily, we could see over an inch of rain for valley locations as well as several feet of snow for higher elevations. The euro ensemble is indicating a 100% chance of snow exceeding 3 feet for a large region over the higher elevations of the Sierra including mountain passes. Anomaly tables are also hinting at the possibility for some gusty winds with this system as well. There is still uncertainty in the forecast so check back for updates. && .AVIATION... Widespread MVFR/IFR conditions develop across the Central Valley between after 00Z Wednesday with IFR/LIFR developing over the mountains associated with heavy rain and snow moves into the area. Low snow levels with accumulating snow likely at KRDD and KRBL beginning this evening. Increasing southerly surface wind gusts 35-50 kts, locally higher, after 03Z Wednesday. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning until 2 AM PST Friday for Burney Basin / Eastern Shasta County-Central Sacramento Valley-Motherlode- Mountains Southwestern Shasta County to Western Colusa County- Northeast Foothills/Sacramento Valley-Northern Sacramento Valley- Shasta Lake Area / Northern Shasta County-Western Plumas County/Lassen Park. Blizzard Warning until 2 AM PST Friday for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada. High Wind Warning from 8 PM this evening to noon PST Wednesday for Carquinez Strait and Delta-Central Sacramento Valley- Motherlode-Mountains Southwestern Shasta County to Western Colusa County-Northeast Foothills/Sacramento Valley-Northern Sacramento Valley-Northern San Joaquin Valley-Southern Sacramento Valley. Flash Flood Watch through Thursday afternoon for Northern San Joaquin Valley-Southern Sacramento Valley. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
18 winter storm, 6 high wind, 1 blizzard, 1 strong wind, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
A member of the public reported 11 inches of snow in Burney, CA via social media.
Members of the public reported 8 inches of snow at Jones Valley, south of Lake Shasta and 18 inches of snow at Whiskeytown Lake.
Spotters across Shasta County in zone 13 reported 32 inches of snow in Sims and 12 inches of snow 1 West of Central Valley.
Whiskeytown National Recreational Area reported 18 inches of snow, multiple reports of downed trees and powerlines due to snow, and that California Highway Patrol shut down travel along 299 in Old Shasta. At time of report it was still snowing.
The public reported between 5 to 10 inches of snow across the City of Redding. 1 inch of snow was reported near Millville and 2 inches was reported in Anderson.
The fire department reported 1.5 inches of snow at Redding Airport. Elevation is 505 feet.
Multiple spun out vehicles, including jack-knifed, stalled, or disabled big rigs, have been reported across Shasta County, including but not limited to I-5 and Hwy 299. Additionally, multiple highways closed due to heavy snow.
A CoCoRaHS observer at 3.4 NW of Igo reported 19 inches of snow accumulation.
Snow closed FH7 from County Road 306 (near Elk Creek) to the Mendocino Pass, which is within the August fire burn area. Some trees and power lines down, but no major damage was observed.
CoCoRaHS observers reported 2 inches of snow at 2 SW of Bald Mountain Summit and 1 NNE of Grass Valley, which are at elevations of 2350 and 2780 feet respectively.
A spotter reported 4 inches of snow 2 SSE of Nevada City.
Shingletown CoCoRaHS observers reported between 13 and 17 inches of storm total snow accumulation.
A member of the public reported 13 inches of snow accumulation in the Magalia DeSabla area.
Paradise Unified School District closed all of their schools, including distance and hybrid learning, on January 27 due to snow and poor weather conditions.
Quincy reported 12 inches of snow.
Chester reported 24 inches of storm total snow, Mineral reported 30 inches, and Manzanita reported 19 inches.
Blue Canyon reported blizzard conditions with visibility falling to a quarter mile and peak wind gusts making it up 44 mph.
High winds resulted in fallen trees throughout the Sacramento Valley. Media reported an incident that resulted in 2 injuries just east of Chico, CA along Centerville Road in Butte Creek Canyon. 1 individual was taken the the hospital; the other injury was minor. Peak wind gusts, reported by a myriad of weather stations, for the zone ranged from 30 to 67 mph.
Power outage for full Zogg fire area due to damaged trees down on powerlines. Peak wind gusts, reported by a myriad of weather stations, for the zone ranged from 30 to 51 mph. Damage costs are estimated.
High winds caused a significant amount of trees and powerlines to fall across the area causing widespread power outages, closed roads, and dangerous driving conditions. It was noted that several homes were damaged in Solano County. Peak wind gusts, reported by a myriad of weather stations, for the zone ranged from 35 to 65 mph. Damage costs are estimated.
A fire partner reported that many trees were done across the city of Vacaville. Damage costs are estimated.
The media reported that winds caused downed trees and power lines, which led to damaged property and hazardous driving conditions across the Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. Peak wind gusts, reported by a myriad of weather stations, for the zone ranged from 35 to 58 mph. Damage costs are estimated.
Public works of Butte County reported that many trees and limbs came down in the valley and foothill communities, including Camp Burn Scar. There is no count on the trees, but a lot of calls came from south county foothills, Forbestown area.
Local news site reported that the foothills, specifically in the Sierra, Nevada, Placer, and El Dorado areas, reported widespread power outages due to wind. Additionally, many local highways were closed for snow and wind debris removal. Peak wind gusts, reported by a myriad of weather stations, for the zone ranged from 30 to 58 mph. Damage costs are estimated.
The media reported that street flooding and rockslides occurred due to heavy rain. They also noted that Stanislaus Sheriff Department said a few vehicles were damaged as well. Damage costs are estimated. Location is not approximate as it was provided as a general statement.
Sierra Nevada Ski Resorts reported between 4 and 8.5 feet of snow accumulation for the entire event, including the Blizzard Warning. Kirkwood and Dodge Ridge reported roughly 8.5 feet, Sierra-at-Tahoe roughly 7 feet, Sugar Bowl 6.5 feet, Sugar Bowl 6.25 feet, Tahoe Donner roughly 6 feet, and Bear Valley got about 5.25 feet snow.
Caltrans reported 4.25 feet of new snow at their Kingvale location. Portions of I-80 also closed throughout the event due to spinouts and/or accidents.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2021
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: 940687, 940694, 940699, 940700, 940704, 940707, 940752, 940757, 940758, 940760, 940764, 940772, 940773, 940774, 940800, 940806, 940815, 940833, 940834, 940850, 940865, 940866, 940872, 940873, 940868, 940808, 940809.