Thunderstorm Wind — Tulare, California

2014-02-28 · near Porterville, Tulare, California

Event narrative

Trees down across Porterville. Damages reported to several houses due to fallen trees and limbs.

Wider weather episode

A dry storm system moved through the central California interior on February 18th, bringing a push of cold air that lowered temperatures briefly to near normal. Behind the cold front, gusty winds developed over the mountains and deserts on the 19th. The winds began during the early morning hours, with a gust to 60 mph at Bear Peak in Tulare County, and a gust to 53 mph at Mojave, during the pre-dawn hours. Winds gusted over 45 mph in the eastern Kern County desert during the morning and early afternoon of the 19th, and gusts to 50 mph were recorded in the Piutes.

An upper-level ridge of high pressure returned to California on the 19th behind the departing low-pressure system. High temperatures warmed to above normal for the next several days before the next storm arrived during the afternoon of February 26th. This warming trend peaked with Bakersfield hitting 81 degrees on the 25th, and Fresno reaching 80 degrees. This was the first time either city had seen 80 degrees since November 10th, 2013.

The storm that reached the central California interior on February 26th was the first of two closely-spaced systems. Together, the two storms brought as much as 4 inches of rain to the Southern Sierra Nevada foothills, and over an inch of rain to the Kern County deserts. Fresno had a three-day storm total of 1.11 inch, bringing the total rainfall for February to 2.11 inch. This was 0.08 inch greater than the normal of 2.03 inches and was the first time since December 2012 that Fresno had above-normal rainfall for a month.

The south end of the San Joaquin Valley was rain-shadowed, with Bakersfield receiving only 0.28 inch of rain, almost all of which fell from the second storm on February 28th. The second storm was located off the central California coast, and was impressive on satellite pictures with a tightly-wound structure and a clear center much like the eye of a tropical system. The circulation around the storm produced a southerly wind over the Tehachapi Mountains which funneled through Tejon Pass and down the Grapevine into the south end of the San Joaquin Valley. Winds gusted as high as 89 mph at Grapevine Peak, and to 50 mph at Sunflower Valley on the west side of the Valley. At Buck Rock, in the Sierra Nevada in Tulare County, winds gusted to 66 mph.

Several thunderstorms were spawned by the storms, with the second system being the most potent. Numerous trees were toppled in both the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra foothills by winds, in many cases pulling down power lines. One thunderstorm at Squaw Valley in the foothills produced a gust estimated at 65 mph, which toppled trees and damaged the roof of a garage. On the Valley floor, there were reports of houses and parked vehicles damaged by falling trees or large limbs. Near Fresno, a tree 3 feet in diameter was toppled.

Street flooding was reported at several locations, not only in the San Joaquin Valley but also in eastern Kern County where the Garlock Road flooded. (Garlock Road is prone to flooding from runoff from the El Paso Mountains.). In Dinuba, water covering the road was estimated at 8 to 12 inches deep.

In the Southern Sierra Nevada, estimates of new snowfalls were as high as four feet. (These were Snotel observations; a post-storm snow survey had not been conducted at the time of this summary.)

February 2014 was much warmer than normal, and was Fresno's warmest February on record. Bakersfield tied for its 6th warmest February on record.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.0600, -119.0300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 510005. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.