High Wind — Kern Cty Mtns, California

2019-01-21 · Kern Cty Mtns, California

Event narrative

Bear Valley reported a peak wind gust of 59 mph.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front pushed through central California during the evening of January 20 early morning of January 21 bringing a brief period of moderate to locally heavy precipitation along with strong wind gusts. Several reports of damaging winds were received during this time frame as winds downed several trees and power poles in the San Joaquin Valley where several stations measured gusts above 35 mph. There were also several reports of wind gusts exceeding 45 mph in the Kern County Mountains and Deserts and some low impact indicator sites measured gusts between 75 and 90 mph. Rainfall amounts varied in the San Joaquin Valley as some locations in the east central valley picked up between a quarter and half an inch while most of the west side of the valley was rain shadowed and did not pick up much rain. Much of the Southern Sierra Nevada picked up between a half inch to an inch and a half of liquid precipitation while several locations above 7000 feet picked up between 5 and 10 inches of beneficial snowfall. The precipitation ended by the evening of January 21 as the frontal system moved out of the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 793990. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.