Strong Wind — Southern Sacramento Valley, California

2023-01-07 · Southern Sacramento Valley, California

Event narrative

A transformer was reported by the California Highway Patrol to be sparking and causing a small fire in a tree. Wind gusts to 41 mph were reported at McClellan Airfield.

Wider weather episode

A major winter storm brought strong winds with moderate to heavy rain bringing renewed flooding of already elevated waterways. There was flooding of roadways, urban areas, rivers, streams and creeks, with rockslides and mudslides also reported. There were dangerous mountain travel conditions with snow levels around 4000 feet and 3 to 5 feet of storm total snowfall above 6000 feet. Winds gusted up to 60-70 mph in the Central Valley. In the mountains there were gusts up to 80 to 115 mph, which coupled with heavy snow, brought whiteout conditions. There were widespread trees down across the area, blocking roads and causing numerous power outages. There were thunderstorms on the 10th with a tornado in Calaveras County and straight line wind damage and small hail reported in the northern San Joaquin Valley.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1078916. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.