High Wind — Southern Sacramento Valley, California

2024-02-04 to 2024-02-05 · Southern Sacramento Valley, California

Event narrative

Mather Field Airport reported a wind gust of 68 mph. Sacramento International Airport reported a wind gust of 64 mph. McClellan Airfield reported sustained winds of 43 mph with gusts to 59 mph, and a max gust of 66 mph. Vacaville Nut Tree Airport reported a gust of 59 mph. Numerous reports of downed power lines and trees across the area, closing roads and damaging cars. Sacramento County OES reported two fatalities from fallen trees, over 200,000 power outages, roof damages to airport facilities, multiple downed trees and road and park closures. The City of Sacramento estimated $350,000 total combined cost for storm damage. Yolo County OES reported over 4,000 power outages, school closures, and downed trees.

Wider weather episode

A major winter storm moved in from the south on February 4th, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, thunderstorms and heavy mountain snow through February 7th. Damaging winds brought down trees and caused widespread power outages. Flooding and strong winds resulted in multiple fatalities. Chain controls were observed in the mountains. Heavy rain brought nuisance flooding on roads and urban areas and rises to rivers, creeks and streams, with generally 1 to 3 inches of storm total rain reported across the Valley and foothills.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1162818. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.