Flood — Kings, California

2019-05-26 · near Hanford, Kings, California

Event narrative

Several public reports and social media posts of flooding in downtown Hanford.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper low pressure system pushed southward through the Pacific Northwest on May 25. Warm air advection ahead of this system produced instability over the San Joaquin Valley during the afternoon and evening of May 25 which resulted in the development of scattered thunderstorms. One thunderstorm produced nickel sized hail between Mettler and Maricopa along State Route 166 and also produced roadway flooding in the area. The low moved southward through California on May 26 bringing increased clouds, significant rainfall and mountain snowfall, locally strong winds as well as thunderstorms with heavy rain. Much of the area received between a quarter and three quarters of an inch of liquid precipitation while several stations in the Sierra Nevada picked up between 2 to 5 inches of new snowfall with a few stations picking up 6 to 7 inches. Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of May 26 across the San Joaquin Valley producing heavy rainfall, roadway flooding and a few funnel clouds. In addition, gusty winds prevailed for much of the day in the Tehachapi and Lake Isabella areas where there were several reports of wind gusts exceeding 35 mph while a few low impact indicator sites measured gusts above 55 mph. Several all time daily record precipitation records were shattered on May 26.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.3323, -119.6501)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 815477. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.