Heavy Rain — El Dorado, California

2023-12-17 to 2023-12-18 · near Twin Bridges, El Dorado, California

Event narrative

Mesonet stations (RUBC1) located 1.0 mi SW of Meeks Bays, CA (SNOTEL), and (ECOC1) located 3.5 mi NE of Twin Bridges, CA (SNOTEL) both reported 24 hr rainfall storm totals of 1.3 inches.

Wider weather episode

A rather warm low pressure system supported by a moderate AR flow (IVT: 400-600 kgm-1s-1) anchored in the eastern Pacific offshore the western US, and initiated a stormy pattern over the region. This system swung multiple short wave troughs into California and Nevada that produced widespread valley rain, higher mountain snow, some periods of freezing rain across northeast California to include lower valley areas of the Basin and Range, and breezy south-southwest winds. As snow levels dropped over a 48 hour period, moderate to heavy higher elevation snowfall increased travel difficulties over higher Sierra passes from northeast California to the Lake Tahoe Basin.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (38.8558, -120.0740)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1152448. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.