A low pressure system dropped southward off the California coast on March 3 then turned inland and moved across southern California during the morning of March 4 spreading moderate to locally heavy precipitation into the south San Joaquin Valley with localized street flooding being observed in the Bakersfield area. Light precipitation impacted the Tehachapi Mountains with the snow level lowering…
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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 HNX wrote it up.
A low pressure system dropped southward off the California coast on March 3 then turned inland and moved across southern California during the morning of March 4 spreading moderate to locally heavy precipitation into the south San Joaquin Valley with localized street flooding being observed in the Bakersfield area. Light precipitation impacted the Tehachapi Mountains with the snow level lowering from 5000 feet at the onset of the precipitation to 4000 feet by the evening of March 4. A colder system then dropped southward along the California Nevada border on March 5 which pushed a cold front southward through the area bringing mainly light precipitation to much of our area and lowering the snow level to around 2000 feet. Snowfall was generally 3 to 6 inches of above 5000 feet and 1 to 3 inches between 2500 feet and 5000 feet. The snow did result in traffic being paced along Interstate 5 over the Tejon Pass for a few hours on March 5 and briefly closed a few roads in the Kern County Mountains as some precautionary measures were taken. Parts of the south San Joaquin Valley picked up between 0.75 inches and 1.5 inches of rainfall, but further north the the central valley most locations picked up between a quarter and a half inch of rainfall.
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 Mar 4, 3:50 AM PST, 2 hours 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 350 AM PST Fri Mar 4 2022 .SYNOPSIS... A storm system will continue moving eastward across Southern California Today, resulting in precipitation throughout most of the service area. A second, colder storm system will progress southward down the California/Nevada border tonight and Saturday. This storm system will be responsible for lower elevation snow. && .DISCUSSION... A return to more active weather across the Central California Interior as regional Doppler radars show precipitation pushing up from the Southwest. Satellite and radar analysis show the center of the current disturbance off the Southern California Coast and slowly shifting toward Orange/San Diego Counties. As the disturbance moves eastward, will see increasing precipitation coverage during the day. At the moment, light rain and possible higher elevation snow was being observed over the western portions of the district. The other concern today will be the winds over the eastern portion of Kern County. Currently, surface pressure gradients from KSFO to KLAS were reaching between 7mb and 8mb. Southwest wind gust across Eastern Kern County were already being observed between 20 and 30 mph. Will see a one-two punch of weather disturbances cross Central California during the next 24 hours as unsettled conditions will exist through early Sunday. Short range High Resolution Ensemble models showing high confidence in moving the disturbance through Southern California with limited energy hitting Central California. This trajectory will lead to light to moderate precipitation across Central California with the higher values south of Fresno and mostly over the mountains of Kern and Tulare Counties. Current probability of exceedance for a tenth of a inch of rain today has the highest values in Kern County with just over 50 percent. That values drops to around 30 percent for Fresno and under 10 percent for Merced. Therefore, will place the the highest likelihood of precipitation over the southern half of the district. In the area of thunderstorms, convective parameters are not favorable for Central California. Therefore, will not mention thunderstorms as the most unstable air remains south of the district. Winds across Kern County will be a different story for today and into Saturday. Ensembles show increased winds across the eastern side of Kern County as they place the surface pressure gradient at near 10mb. Confidence is high in placing a Wind Advisory for Kern County as both the ensemble mean and spread place values within advisory criteria levels. Ensembles keep the area windy through at least Saturday night. At that time, the second disturbance will have begun exiting the region. The second punch of the two disturbances will enter the district overnight into early Saturday morning. Ensembles are still in good agreement with introducing very cold air into the region during the time of the second disturbance’s passage. Snow levels are expected to drop to Interstate 5 and Highway 58 levels which could impact roads this weekend. Winter Weather products are in effect for continued winter hazards. By the end of the weekend, the current hazards will have diminished with a return to more quiet weather going into the next work week. && .AVIATION... VFR/MVFR conditions will prevail across the lower elevation locations today into tonight. MVFR with areas of IFR conditions will exist over the higher terrain of the Central California Interior during the next 24 hours. && .AIR QUALITY ISSUES... None. && .CERTAINTY... The level of certainty for days 1 and 2 is medium. 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... Winter Weather Advisory from 10 PM this evening to 4 AM PST Sunday for CAZ334>336. Wind Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 8 PM PST Saturday for CAZ337>339. Winter Weather Advisory until 10 PM PST Saturday for CAZ323- 326>331. Winter Weather Advisory from 10 PM this evening to 10 PM PST Saturday for CAZ318-320-322-325-333. && Public/Aviation/Fire Wx...Molina IDSS/PIO/Social Media.....BS weather.gov/hanford
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
California Highway Patrol reported that the intersection of SR 184 and Redbank Rd. in Bakersfield was completely flooded.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
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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: 1001672.