High Wind — Se Kern Cty Desert, California

2019-03-08 · Se Kern Cty Desert, California

Event narrative

Mojave Warren Siding reported a peak wind gust of 60 mph.

Wider weather episode

Following the departure of the warm and very moist system which brought heavy rain to portions of the area on March 6, a cold upper trough approached the area on March 7 and moved through the region during the morning of March 8. This system provided additional liquid precipitation totals of half an inch to an inch over much of the southern Sierra Nevada with the snow level lowering from 5000 feet during the evening of March 7 to 3500 feet by the afternoon of March 8. While precipitation amounts were generally lower in the San Joaquin Valley and the Kern County Mountains, a few locations impacted by heavier showers or thunderstorms on March 8 received over half an inch. Several locations in the higher elevations of the southern Sierra Nevada (above 7000 feet) picked up between 6 an 12 inches of new snow between the evening of March 7 and the afternoon of March 8. There were some reports of funnel clouds in the San Joaquin Valley although there were no confirmed reports of tornadoes from this system. There were several reports of wind gusts exceeding 45 mph in the Kern County Mountains and Deserts and a few low impact indicator sites measured gusts exceeding 70 mph. This cold system moved out of the area during the evening of March 8 with a drier airmass moving into the area behind it.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 802319. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.