Funnel Cloud — Merced, California

2023-03-12 · near Los Banos Muni Arpt, Merced, California

Event narrative

An NWS employee observed a funnel cloud in northwest Los Banos.

Wider weather episode

Following the departure of the warm and moist storm which produced widespread flooding across the area on March 9 and 10, another moist system moved through central California on March 11 and 12. While precipitation amounts were generally much lower with this system with most of the Sierra Nevada picking up between 1 and 2 inches of liquid precipitation and adjacent foothills picking up between a half inch and an inch of rainfall, the cooler unstable airmass on the back side of this system produced afternoon and evening thunderstorms across the lower elevations resulting in widespread flooding and wind damage across the San Joaquin Valley.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0700, -120.8700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1076523. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.