Heavy Snow — Upper San Joaquin River, California
2025-03-17 to 2025-03-18 · Upper San Joaquin River, California
Event narrative
The Kaiser Point SNOTEL (9131 feet) picked up an estimated 13 inches of new snow.
The Chilkoot Meadow SNOTEL (7150 feet) picked up an estimated 14 inches of new snow.
The Poison Ridge SNOTEL (6988 feet) picked up an estimated 19 inches of new snow.
The Graveyard Meadow SNOTEL (6897 feet) picked up an estimated 12 inches of new snow.
Wider weather episode
An upper trough and associated cold front pushed through central California on March 17 bringing rain, mountain snow mainly above 6000 feet and gusty winds across the West Side Hills and to portions of eastern Kern County. The precipitation arrived by the morning of March 17 and spread southward through the day. Thunderstorms broke out during the afternoon of March 17 in the cooler and unstable airmass behind the cold front. The thunderstorms produced localized nuisance flooding along with a few funnel clouds. Precipitation totals were generally a quarter to three quarters of an inch of rainfall in the San Joaquin Valley except areas on the west side of the Valley and the West Side Hills had a tenth of an inch or less due to rain shadowing. The Sierra foothills picked up between three quarters of an inch and an inch and a half of rainfall while the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada generally picked up between 1 and 2 inches of liquid precipitation and the Tehachapi Mountains picked up a half inch to an inch of liquid precipitation. The snow level was between 5500 and 6000 feet for much of this event with several higher elevation SNOTELs picking up and estimated 10 to 20 inches of new snowfall. Gusty winds prevailed along the West Side Hills and in eastern Kern County behind the cold front with several stations reporting peak gusts between 45 and 65 mph. The winds diminished and the precipitation tapered off by the morning of March 18 as the trough moved into the Great Basin Region.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1232588. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.