Heavy Rain — Kings, California

2014-12-11 to 2014-12-12 · near Hanford, Kings, California

Event narrative

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches across the Kings county. Nuisance roadway flooding.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front moved into central California on Thursday, December 11 and continued to impact the region through December 13. This system brought strong southerly winds across the Tehachapi mountains and into the San Joaquin Valley from the afternoon of the 11th to the morning of the 12th. During this time, winds gusted 70 to 90 mph across the mountains of Kern county with one gust of 105 mph reported at Grapevine Peak RAWS. In the San Joaquin Valley, winds gusted 40 to 60 mph, with the strongest winds occurring across Merced county south through western Fresno county and throughout Kern county. There was widespread minor wind damage across Kern county, including trees toppled, power poles down, and fences blown over. One report included approximately 2000 almond trees down northwest of Bakersfield, with a valued loss of $0.2M-0.5M. It was reported that 9,000 people lost power in the Bakersfield area during the storm.

This storm system also brought heavy rain and snow beginning late on December 11 and continuing through December 13. Rainfall amounts were generally 1 to 3 inches across the San Joaquin Valley, the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada, the Sierra Foothills, and the mountains of Kern county. Even the desert portion of Kern county received a tenth of an inch to as much as 1.5 inches of rain. The heavy rain resulted in widespread nuisance flooding, notably in Gustine, the Fresno area, and the Bakersfield area. A portion of Highway 99 (Taft Highway underpass) was closed for a period due to flooding during the morning of Friday, December 12. While a Flood Watch was issued for the Rim Fire burn scar, no impacts were noted.

Snow was reported as low as 3600 feet where up to 2 inches of snow fell. Otherwise snow amounts ranged from about 8 inches to as much as 20 inches in the Sierra Nevada. NOHRSC analysis showed average snow water equivalent (SWE) in the Sierra increased from 0.4 to 1.1 and area covered by snow was up to 55.7% from 16.3%. A few inches of snow also fell across parts of Kern county.

As the storm departed, there areas of dense fog developed in the San Joaquin Valley, becoming widespread on December 13 and 14. Another storm system moved into the region on Monday, December 15. Although much weaker than the previous storm, it produced gusty winds in the Kern county mountains and light snow in the Sierra Nevada.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.3300, -119.6500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 550555. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.