High Wind — Coalinga - Avenal, California

2022-12-31 · Coalinga - Avenal, California

Event narrative

The Kettleman Hills RAWS measured a peak wind gust of 61 mph.

Wider weather episode

A large upper trough moved slowly through California on December 30 and 31. This system had a deep fetch of tropical moisture associated with it which resulted in a period of moderate to heavy precipitation along with widespread flooding across much of the area on December 31. Numerous reports of flooding and debris flows were reported by law enforcement with several roads being briefly closed as a result of flooding. The system also produced strong wind gusts across the area between the afternoon of December 30 and the morning of January 1 with several stations in the West Side Hills and Tehachapi Mountains reporting gusts exceeding 60 mph. Several stations in the Sierra Nevada below 7500 feet picked up between 4 and 7 inches of rainfall while the adjacent foothills picked up 2 to 4 inches of rainfall. Rain shadowing effects limited precipitation in the San Joaquin Valley to between half an inch and an inch of rain at most locations while many stations in the Tehachapi Mountains also picked up between half an inch and an inch of rain. Several higher elevations SNOTEL stations picked up 18 to 30 inches of new snowfall adding to the heavy snowpack which had already accumulated earlier in December.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1062265. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.