Winter Weather — Fresno - Clovis, California

2024-03-23 · Fresno - Clovis, California

Event narrative

A Fresno television station reported a single vehicle accident on SR 99 3 miles south of Fresno during the early evening of March 23 in which a pickup truck flipped over on a wet roadway while moderate rainfall was occurring across the area. The accident resulted in a 12 year old boy being killed and 3 adults being injured.

Wider weather episode

A large upper low approached the northern California coast on March 22. The associated trough with this system pushed into central California by the evening bringing widespread precipitation to the area. Much of the San Joaquin Valley picked up between a half inch and an inch of rain while much of the Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills picked up between 0.75 inches and 1.5 inches of liquid precipitation while several higher elevations SNOTELs picked up an estimated 10 to 15 inches of new snowfall. Most of the precipitation occurred during the afternoon and evening of March 23. Moderate rainfall in the Fresno area resulted in a fatal accident on SR 99 near the intersection of Clovis Ave. This system also brought a period of gusty winds to the Mojave Desert slopes between the evening of March 23 and the morning of March 24 with several stations measuring gusts exceeding 50 mph.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1160836. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.