Strong Wind — Northern San Joaquin Valley, California

2022-12-31 · Northern San Joaquin Valley, California

Event narrative

There were reports of a large number of large trees uprooted and tree limbs down due to high winds from 6:30 pm to 11 pm in San Joaquin, and Stanislaus Counties on December 31, 2022. Trees fell onto powerlines, causing significant number of power outages reported by PG&E. Multiple power outages continued into midday on January 1, 2022. Stockton Airport reported wind gusts above 45 mph from 9:50 pm through 10:25 pm with a peak gust of 54 mph at 10:20 pm.

Wider weather episode

A strong and very wet atmospheric storm brought extended periods of moderate to heavy rain and periods of strong winds to much of the region, along with heavy high-elevation snow. Precipitation totals were around 1-3 inches for the Central Valley, 3-6 inches in the foothills, and 5-8 inches of liquid equivalent in the mountains. The rain brought widespread flooding to the region. This included significant river flooding on the Cosumnes River around Wilton due to multiple levee breaks, resulting in the area being evacuated and area highways and roads being closed, including SR-99. River flooding was also reported along the Mokelumne River near Benson's Ferry and Mormon Slough at Bellota. Flooding of streams, in low areas and from clogged storm drains also closed many other roads across Northern California, with several small communities being evacuated. Heavy snow also disrupted mountain travel, with multiple spinouts causing I-80 to be shut down for 18 hours. Highway 50 was closed in El Dorado County due to a combination of flooding and snow. High winds gusting 50-65 mph in the Central Valley caused large numbers of trees to fall, bringing widespread power failures across the area, with hundreds of thousands of customers impacted. Many local roads were closed to downed trees blocking them. Trees were also reported to have fallen on homes and automobiles. The storm with flooding continued into January, with several fatalities reported due to drowning and wind-downed trees.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1073515. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.