Thunderstorm Wind — Mariposa, California

2023-08-19 · near Coulterville, Mariposa, California

Event narrative

The PG&E station at Penon Blanco reported a measured wind gust of 62 mph with a thunderstorm.

Wider weather episode

A strong surge of moisture associated with Hurricane Hillary pushed northward into central California on August 19. This moisture surge resulted in the development of showers and thunderstorms mainly the San Joaquin Valley during the afternoon and evening hours with the most noticeable impact being outflow wind gusts. Hillary weakened into a Tropical Storm and moved into southern California on August 20 resulting in moderate to heavy rainfall across the mountains and deserts of Kern County with several stations picking up between 3 and 5 inches of rainfall with a few stations receiving more than 5.5 inches of rainfall. Much of the Sierra Nevada south of Kings Canyon picked up between 1 and 3 inches of rainfall while the south San Joaquin Valley measured between a half inch and an inch. Further north, rainfall amounts were lower, but many new daily rainfall records were set for August 20. Numerous reports of flash flooding and road closures were observed in Kern County during the afternoon of August 20 through the early morning of August 21. The rains dissipated during the morning of August 21, but an offshore trough provided for enough instability for thunderstorms to break out over the area during the afternoon of August 21 which produced locally heavy rainfall. The trough lifted northeast on August 22 resulting in the moisture being pushed out of our area and drier conditions prevailed for the remainder of the week.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7316, -120.2612)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1116679. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.