Name: Cold in California, December 30, 2024
Start: 2024-12-30T01:00
End: 2024-12-30T23:59
Location: California

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 VEF wrote it up.

One person died in the Sierra Nevada, presumably of cold-related causes.

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 Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 30, 12:16 AM PST, 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 30, 12:16 AM PST, 44 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 29, 7:48 PM PST, 5 hours 12 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

1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Sierra Slopes of Inyo County

When: December 30, 1:00 AM PST to 11:59 PM PST
Where: Eastern Sierra Slopes of Inyo County forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: County Official
Coordinates: 36.511, -117.411 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A man attempted to climb Mt. Whitney solo despite having neither proper gear nor Alpine climbing experience. His body was found days later. It is presumed that he died of cold-related causes on the first day of his attempt.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Cold/Wind Chill, Eastern Sierra Slopes of Inyo County	2024-12-30	29	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Cold/Wind Chill: Cold or wind chill below warning criteria that caused deaths, injuries or damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2024 Every state in 2024 This day in weather history Warnings in California, December 2024

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: 1222400.