Heavy Snow — Sequoia Kings, California

2019-12-22 to 2019-12-24 · Sequoia Kings, California

Event narrative

The Big Meadows SNOTEL (7600 feet) picked up an estimated 18 inches of new snow.

Wider weather episode

A frontal system slowly moved east across central California on December 22 and 23. Strong winds ahead of the system impacted the Fort Tejon area as well as the west side hills of the San Joaquin Valley and the Bakersfield area where there were a few reports of minor wind damage. Widespread gusts of 50 mph or higher were reported in the foothill and mountain areas with a couple of stations near Lebec reporting gusts exceeding 75 mph. After the winds diminished during the afternoon of December 22, widespread precipitation spread across the area with several reports of 1 to 1.5 inches of liquid precipitation in the Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills. Rain shadowing generally kept precipitation totals down in the San Joaquin Valley where most locations picked up between a quarter and half and inch of rainfall. A swath of moderate to locally heavy rainfall was observed in central Tulare County during the evening of December 22 as the main low pressure center tracked north through the area and impacted Porterville, Lindsay and Exeter. The precipitation mainly fell as snow above 5000 feet and several stations in the higher Sierra picked up between 10 and 15 inches of new snowfall.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 862044. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.