Frost/Freeze — Lower Colorado River Valley, California

2013-01-12 to 2013-01-14 · Lower Colorado River Valley, California

Event narrative

A very cold airmass settled in across southeastern California during the day on Friday, January 11th, and it lingered into the morning hours on Monday January 14th. As a result, a Freeze Warning was issued for the lower Colorado River Valley beginning Friday evening continuing through the early morning hours on Monday. Increasing clouds and wind resulted in a premature cancellation of the warning at 3 am on Monday. According to the Blythe ASOS, the low temperature fell to 25 degrees on Sunday morning. The very cold temperatures resulted in some damage to exposed pipes, as well as citrus crop losses and damage to landscaping plants and trees such as ficus.

Wider weather episode

A deep and very cold area of low pressure developed across the desert southwest during the middle of January 2013, which led to widespread freezing and sub-freezing temperatures across the lower deserts of southeastern California. Freezing temperatures developed on the morning of January 12, and continued for 2 more days. Communities affected included Imperial, El Centro, Brawley, Desert Center and Blythe. The intense cold led to the issuance of a Freeze Warning on Friday evening, January 11th that ran through the morning hours on Monday January 14th. The freezing temperatures resulted in significant damage across the deserts, in the form of burst outdoor pipe, crop damage and dead frost sensitive plants and trees, such a ficus and lantana.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 428951. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.