Flood — Merced, California

2024-01-20 · near Los Banos Muni Arpt, Merced, California

Event narrative

California Highway Patrol reported flooding in northbound Interstate 5 on the right hand side near the Volta Rd. underpass.

Wider weather episode

An upper level trough pushed into northern California during the evening of January 19. Moisture associated with this system produced a period of light to moderate precipitation in central California between the early morning of January 20 and the afternoon of January 21. Much of Merced County picked up between a quarter and a half inch of rainfall while the Sierra Nevada from Fresno County northward picked up between a quarter and a half inch of liquid precipitation. Further south most locations picked up between a tenth and a half inch of precipitation. The snow level was between 7000 and 7500 feet for much of this event and several high elevation SNOTEL stations in the Sierra Nevada picked up an estimated 3 to 6 inches of new snowfall.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.0143, -120.9293)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1148859. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.