The Merced River at Stevinson exceeded it's flood stage at 71 feet due to controlled dam releases on March 16 and remained above flood stage until March 22 when it finally dropped below 71 feet.
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The episode as NWS HNX wrote it up.
The Merced River at Stevinson exceeded it's flood stage at 71 feet due to controlled dam releases on March 16 and remained above flood stage until March 22 when it finally dropped below 71 feet.
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 16, 2:06 AM PST, 7 hours 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Hanford CA 306 AM PDT Thu Mar 16 2023 .SYNOPSIS...Other than some upslope clouds along the foothills and valley facing slopes this morning, mainly clear skies and calm weather will continue through Saturday. A weak system may move through and produce some light precipitation, but the next main system will move in on Monday and go through Wednesday. && .DISCUSSION...Shortwave ridging which built into central CA yday has pushed precipitation out of the area. Some lingering upslope low clouds persist along the Sierra foothills and the valley facing slopes of the San Joaquin Valley but expect the low clouds to dissipate by midday. Other than a slight chance of light precipitation near Yosemite Park this afternoon and evening, dry conditions with mild seasonable temperatures will prevail across the area through Saturday. The next system that will bring widespread precipitation to our area will move through the region Sunday morning through Sunday evening. Impacts from this system are expected to be minimal as precipitation with this system is anticiapted to be light with a quarter to a half inch of liquid precipitation in the Sierra Nevada from Sequoia National Park northward, between a tenth and a quarter inch of rainfall is expected along the adjacent foothills with a tenth of an inch or less expected elsewhere in our CWFA. A much stronger system is progged to impact central CA by Monday as a large upper trough approaches the CA coast. The trough is progged to move through CA on Tuesday and Wednesday. GEFS IWVT is showing a strong atmospheric river accompanying this system with a deep moisture fetch extending beyond the central Pacific. QPF progs have been trending higher for this period with most of the San Joaquin Valley expected to pick up between 1 and 2 inches of rainfall. The Sierra foothills picking up between 2 and 4 inches of rainfall and the higher Sierra Nevada picking up between 3 and 6 inches of liquid precipitation. Snow levels are not expected to be as high as they were with the recent system which brought widespread flooding to our area with snow levels expected to be between 5500 and 6000 feet on Monday and lower by about 1000 feet a day through Wednesday. While flooding remains a threat from this system due to significant precipitation falling on a very saturated ground, disruptions to travel from winter weather will likely be the main concern with adverse impacts possible in the Sierra foothills and Kern County Mountains by next Wednesday. The probabilities of exceedance of a half inch of rain for the San Joaquin Valley on Tuesday is 35-55% and on Wednesday is 20-40%. && .AVIATION...Areas of MVFR ceilings in low clouds along the Sierra foothills and valley facing slopes until 18Z Thu. Otherwise, VFR conditions will prevail across the central CA interior for 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 low. Certainty levels include low...medium...and high. Please visit www.weather.gov/hnx/certainty.html for additional information and/or to provide feedback. && .HNX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...None. && public...DAS aviation....DCH weather.gov/hanford
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
1030 AM PDT THU MAR 16 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM FLOOD 3 NE MCFARLAND 35.71N 119.19W
03/16/2023 KERN CA EMERGENCY MNGR
MINOR FLOODING NEAR MCFARLAND OVERNIGHT.
&&
BRUSDAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA
1033 AM PDT THU MAR 16 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0115 AM FLOOD 8 SW LAKE ISABELLA 35.56N 118.59W
03/16/2023 KERN CA LAW ENFORCEMENT
PORTIONS OF HIGHWAY 178 CLOSED BECAUSE OF
MUD SLIDES THROUGH THE CANYON.
&&
BRUSDAThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Merced River at Stevinson exceeded it's flood stage of 71 feet due to controlled dam releases of excess snowmelt runoff.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in California, March 2023
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: 1079619.