Portions of Fresno, Tulare and Kern Counties were classified as being in an extreme drought for consecutive months due to a long term precipitation deficit. As of March 31, 2021, most of the impacted area has received less than 50% of normal precipitation since July 1, 2020.
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.
Portions of Fresno, Tulare and Kern Counties were classified as being in an extreme drought for consecutive months due to a long term precipitation deficit. As of March 31, 2021, most of the impacted area has received less than 50% of normal precipitation since July 1, 2020.
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 28, 1:22 PM PST, 10 hours 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 122 PM PST Sun Feb 28 2021 .SYNOPSIS... Sunny skies and warming through Monday. Breezy to gusty easterly to southeasterly winds for the Kern County Mountain passes and into the far southern San Joaquin Valley on Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, maximum temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley will be about six to nine degrees above normal for this time of year. Small fluctuations in temperatures are expected the rest of the week but remaining above normal. Dry weather will persist through at least Wednesday morning. && .DISCUSSION... Mostly clear skies today with the trough that brought the increased winds yesterday and this morning moving further southeast towards northern Mexico. One more morning of breezy to gusty conditions is on tap for the Kern County Mountain passes and far southern areas of the San Joaquin Valley due to some easterly to southeasterly winds that will spill into the valley tomorrow morning. Upper level ridging is already beginning to move into the region today and will develop into a blocky omega pattern on the heels of the aforementioned trough and this will allow decent synoptic warming to occur and bring warmer temperatures this week to the area. The SJV and the Kern County desert areas look to see good chances of 70 degree or greater high temperatures tomorrow. Fresno has a 73 percent chance of that occurring and Bakersfield has an 87 percent chance. Things look to remain dry at least through Wednesday morning when by Wednesday evening a closed low on the western periphery of the upper level ridge moves southward over the eastern Pacific into southern California. The one caveat here is that with the blocky pattern timing is suffering horribly, heck just yesterday afternoon guidance was calling for that to happen on Tuesday night. So guidance is as expected pushing the timing back due to the block pattern that will develop. Current thinking is that there will be a slight chance for some light precipitation for areas south of Fresno County late Wednesday and into Thursday morning and best chances in the higher elevations of the Kern County Mountains. Out in the Kern desert there will be a 14 percent chance of a hundredth or better falling near Edwards Air Force Base. Now, again confidence is not high here with this exact evolution and I would not be surprised if timing does get pushed back a bit more in this situation. On Thursday ridging begins to work back into the area and will once again dry things out and warm things up. On Friday there will be a 87 percent chance of a 70 degree or greater maximum temperature in Fresno and 98 percent chance in Bako. && .AVIATION... VFR conditions will prevail across Central California through at least the next 24 hours. Gusty east to southeast winds in the Kern County mountain passes and into the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley 12z Monday through 00z Tuesday. && .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 low. 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 aviation....Dudley weather.gov/hanford
4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Much of the Sequoia Kings area of the Sierra Nevada was classified as being in an extreme drought due to a long term precipitation deficit.
Much of the Lake Isabella area was classified as being in an extreme drought due to a long term precipitation deficit.
The northern portion of the Tehachapi area was classified as being in an extreme drought due to a long term precipitation deficit.
Much of the Indian Wells Valley was classified as being in an extreme drought due to a long term precipitation deficit.
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, March 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: 941804, 941806, 941807, 941808.