High Wind — Indian Wells Vly, California

2017-09-21 · Indian Wells Vly, California

Event narrative

The Indian Wells Canyon RAWS reported a maximum wind gust of 60 mph.

Wider weather episode

A cold and moist upper low which originated in the Gulf of Alaska pushed into California on September 21 bringing widespread precipitation, increased winds and much cooler than normal temperatures to the area. Winds picked up across the area again on the evening of September 20 and continued through the afternoon of September 21 with the strongest observed gusts being observed at the indicator ridge top sites in the Kern County Mountains. In addition, widespread precipitation impacted to area on the 21st with several locations in the San Joaquin Valley measuring a few tenths of an inch of rainfall while several locations in the Southern Sierra Nevada from Yosemite Park southward to Fresno County picked up between an inch and an inch and a half of liquid precipitation. The precipitation fell as snow above 11000 feet during the early morning hours of the 21st. the snow level lowered to around 7000 feet in Yosemite Park by late morning. Tuolumne Meadows measures three inches of new snowfall while State Route 120 through Tioga Pass was shut down due to accumulating snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 720889. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.