A late season storm brought impacts to interior northern California over the course of several days in mid May. Several inches of new snow were reported in southern Cascades and northern Sierra.
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 late season storm brought impacts to interior northern California over the course of several days in mid May. Several inches of new snow were reported in southern Cascades and northern Sierra. Thunderstorms was also observed in portions of the Central Valley. Reports of small accumulating hail covering roads with a depth up to 1/4 inch in places were received, generally along the I-80 corridor from the Grass Valley area to Yolo County, however no major impacts were reported. Record low temperatures was also set on the 10th at the Stockton and Sacramento Executive Airports of 37 degrees and 39 degrees respectively.
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 May 8, 9:37 AM PST, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 1037 AM PDT Sun May 8 2022 .Synopsis... Cool and unsettled weather continues early this week with scattered showers and thunderstorms, and mountain snow. Dry and warmer weather returns late this week. && .Discussion Update... Overall the forecast is on track with the upper level trough starting to push into the northern part of the state. This is bringing breezy onshore winds over the area. Winds have over performed some in the Delta and San Joaquin Valley, we are already seeing gusts up to 30 mph and we should see them come up some as we head into the afternoon. With that in mind went ahead and issued a Wind Advisory for that region. Overall the advisory is marginal but we should see advisory level winds at times late morning into the early evening. Breezy winds will linger into the evening but will diminish quickly overnight and should fall below advisory levels by 8 pm this evening. The Winter Weather Advisory is on track with showers continuing to over spread the Sierra this morning. With some instability building in mainly over the Foothills and Mountains we could see some heavy snow showers over the Sierra with limited visibility. If you have travel plans today over the Sierra be prepared for winter driving conditions. -CJM ...Previous Discussion... Mostly cloudy skies cover the northern Sierra early this morning, and radar shows a few light showers near the crest. The remainder of interior NorCal is under clear skies with breezy northwest winds in the Central Valley. Current temperatures are running around 5-10 degrees cooler compared to 24 hours ago and are generally in the mid 40s to mid 50s across the valley. Satellite imagery shows the next strong short-wave approaching northwest California. This feature will move onshore this morning bringing shower chances to the northern half of the forecast area. Shower and thunderstorm chances will spread south across much of the region this afternoon with snow expected to develop across the higher northern Sierra passes. Enough snow accumulation will be possible for some travel impacts over the passes by later this afternoon through the evening. The main upper trough settles in Monday and Tuesday with cold and unsettled weather with scattered showers and a few thunderstorms continuing, mainly over higher terrain. A few inches more of snow accumulation are possible in the Sierra bringing potential totals through Tuesday of more than a foot. High temperatures will remain well below average. && .EXTENDED DISCUSSION (Thursday THROUGH Sunday)... Models have trended a little farther north with the trajectory of the wave Thursday keeping a drier forecast for interior NorCal. EPAC upper ridge then progged to build inland Friday into Sunday with warming temperatures and some breezy wind. High temperatures expected in the low to mid 90s for the Central Valley over the weekend. && .AVIATION... VFR conds exc areas MVFR/IFR poss in shwrs, mainly ovr mtns. Areas S-W sfc wnd gusts to 25 kts in Cntrl Vly til 04z. S-W gusts up to 35 kts poss ovr hyr trrn. && .STO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 11 PM PDT this evening for West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada. &&
1 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
CoCoRaHS observer reported 6 inches of new snow 5.6 miles WSW of Meadow Valley at an elevation of 4,370 feet. 5.3 miles ENE of Shingletown at an elevation of 3,980 feet saw 2.6 inches of snow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in California, May 2022
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: 1026610.