Heavy Snow — Tulare Cty Mtns, California

2018-03-01 to 2018-03-03 · Tulare Cty Mtns, California

Event narrative

The SNOTEL at Big Meadows (7600 feet) picked up an estimated 37.2 inches of new snowfall.

Wider weather episode

A large cold upper low pressure area dropped southeast from the Gulf of Alaska to off the Pacific Northwest coast by the morning of March 1. Several bands of precipitation associated with this system pushed through Central California between the morning of March 1 and the afternoon of March 3. Significant rainfall impacted much of the area during this time frame with several reporting stations in the Southern Sierra Nevada from Fresno County northward picking up more than 2 inches of rainfall with a few locations picking up more than 5 inches of rain. Between 2 and 4 feet of snow fell over the higher elevations of the Southern Sierra Nevada from Fresno County northward during this 60 hour period while some light snowfall fell over the Kern County Mountains and Southern Sierra Foothills on March 3 as the snow level lowered to around 3000 feet.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 734719. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.