Thunderstorm Wind — Mariposa, California

2024-07-13 · near Yosemite Natl Park, Mariposa, California

Event narrative

Media report of a 20 year old hiker slipping and falling off of cables while descending Half Dome during a thunderstorm which was producing heavy rainfall and gusty winds. The fall resulted in fatal injuries.

Wider weather episode

A surge of upper level tropical moisture pushed into central California from the southeast during the morning of July 13 and continued for much of the day. At first the thunderstorms were mainly dry as the lower and middle levels remained dry, and lightning from these thunderstorms ignited several new wildfires across the area. As the middle levels became more moist during the late afternoon and evening the thunderstorms became more in the way of rain producers. There were some locations in Yosemite National Park and the Upper San Joaquin River Basin which picked up between a quarter and a half inch of rainfall, but lower elevations generally only picked up a trace to a few hundredths of and inch of rain. There were also several reports of hail with one cell in Yosemite National Park.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.7460, -119.5333)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1187786. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.