California, 2023

Flood and Heavy Snow in California, February 27 to 28, 2023

February 27 to 28, 2023 · NWS HNX · 22 events in 8 counties and zones

Another cold upper trough moved across central California on February 27 and 28 which resulted in another period of widespread precipitation across the area. The snow level was between 3000 and 4000 feet or much of this event which resulted in heavy snowfall for the Sierra Nevada where several SNOTELs picked up an estimated 2 to 3 feet of new snowfall.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 21 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
22

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.

Another cold upper trough moved across central California on February 27 and 28 which resulted in another period of widespread precipitation across the area. The snow level was between 3000 and 4000 feet or much of this event which resulted in heavy snowfall for the Sierra Nevada where several SNOTELs picked up an estimated 2 to 3 feet of new snowfall. Below the snow line, much of the San Joaquin Valley picked up between a quarter to a half inch of additional rainfall over already saturated soil while the Sierra foothills picked up between a half inch and an inch of combined liquid precipitation. Several roads in the mountains remained closed as a result of the continued snowfall across the area. The precipitation ended by the morning of March 1 as a colder and drier airmass pushed into central California.

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 26, 2:32 PM PST, 13 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 26, 2:32 PM PST, 13 hours 28 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

21 heavy snow, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
37.609, -119.874 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Lower Kibbie Ridge SNOTEL (6479 feet) picked up an estimated 36 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
37.609, -119.874 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Gin Flat SNOTEL (7201 feet) picked up an estimated 36 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
37.609, -119.874 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Ostrander Lake SNOTEL (8200 feet) picked up an estimated 33 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Yosemite Np Outside of the Valley forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
37.609, -119.874 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Dana Meadows SNOTEL (9800 feet) picked up an estimated 22 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Upper San Joaquin River

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Upper San Joaquin River forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.988, -119.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Graveyard Meadow SNOTEL (6897 feet) picked up an estimated 27 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Upper San Joaquin River

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Upper San Joaquin River forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.988, -119.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Poison Ridge SNOTEL (6988 feet) picked up an estimated 42 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Upper San Joaquin River

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Upper San Joaquin River forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.988, -119.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Green Mountain SNOTEL (7900 feet) picked up an estimated 35 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Upper San Joaquin River

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Upper San Joaquin River forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.988, -119.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Devil's Postpile SNOTEL (8004 feet) picked up an estimated 34 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Upper San Joaquin River

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Upper San Joaquin River forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.988, -119.706 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Kaiser Point SNOTEL (9131 feet) picked up an estimated 37 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Kaiser to Rodgers Ridge

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Kaiser to Rodgers Ridge forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.758, -119.649 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The West Woodchuck Meadow SNOTEL (9209 feet) picked up an estimated 36 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Kings Canyon Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Kings Canyon Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.489, -119.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Mitchell Meadow SNOTEL (9900 feet) picked up an estimated 34 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Kings Canyon Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Kings Canyon Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.489, -119.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Volcanic Knob SNOTEL (10050 feet) picked up an estimated 32 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Kings Canyon Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Kings Canyon Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.489, -119.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The State Lakes SNOTEL (10419 feet) picked up an estimated 36 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Grant Grove Area

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Grant Grove Area forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.489, -119.224 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Upper Bull SNOTEL (8073 feet) picked up an estimated 25 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Sequoia Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Sequoia Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.220, -118.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Giant Forest SNOTEL (6650 feet) picked up an estimated 32 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Sequoia Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Sequoia Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.220, -118.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Chagoopa Plateau SNOTEL (9450 feet) picked up an estimated 31 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Sequoia Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Sequoia Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.220, -118.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Crabtree Meadow SNOTEL (10700 feet) picked up an estimated 22 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, Sequoia Np

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
Sequoia Np forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
36.220, -118.800 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Upper Tyndall Creek SNOTEL (11443 feet) picked up an estimated 28 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, South End of the Upper Sierra

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
South End of the Upper Sierra forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
35.782, -118.765 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Beach Meadows SNOTEL (7650 feet) picked up an estimated 19 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, South End of the Upper Sierra

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
South End of the Upper Sierra forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
35.782, -118.765 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Casa Vieja Meadows SNOTEL (8300 feet) picked up an estimated 24 inches of new snowfall.

Heavy Snow, South End of the Upper Sierra

When
February 27, 4:00 AM PST to February 28, 11:59 PM PST
Where
South End of the Upper Sierra forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL
Coordinates
35.782, -118.765 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The Pascoes SNOTEL (9153 feet) picked up an estimated 27 inches of new snowfall.

Flood, Fresno

When
February 27, 7:50 PM PST to 9:50 PM PST
Where
Fresno County, 1.66 mi E of Squaw Vly to 2.27 mi E of Squaw Vly
Cause
Heavy Rain
Reported by
Law Enforcement
Coordinates
36.750, -119.220

California Highway Patrol reported 2 large boulders in the west bound lane of SR 180 just to the northeast of Squaw Valley.

What these are

Heavy Snow
Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in California, February 2023

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: 1075799, 1075800, 1075801, 1075802, 1075803, 1075804, 1075805, 1075806, 1075807, 1075808, 1075809, 1075810, 1075811, 1075812, 1075813, 1075814, 1075815, 1075816, 1075817, 1075818, 1075819, 1075798.