Winter Storm — Fort Tejon, California

2019-12-25 to 2019-12-27 · Fort Tejon, California

Event narrative

California Highway Patrol closed Interstate 5 between Grapevine and Castaic due to heavy snowfall which led to several vehicles spinning out Grapevine and Lebec. A 51 year old truck driver was found dead at 830 am PST on December 26 after being stranded for several hours.

Wider weather episode

A strong and very cold low pressure system dropped southward along the California coast on Christmas Day bringing some light precipitation inland into central California. The system then turned inland and moved through southern California during the evening of December 25 through the morning of December 26 bringing moderate to heavy precipitation to much of Kern County with lighter amounts further north. Between 1 and 2 inches of liquid precipitation fell across much of Kern County with the snow level between 2500 and 3000 feet. Above the snow line, 1 to 2 feet of new snowfall was reported at several stations and the heavy snowfall resulted in the closure of several highways (including Interstate 5 south of Grapevine) for an extended period of time during a period of normally heavy holiday traffic after several vehicle either slid off of the highway or spun out. One truck driver was killed after being stranded along Interstate 5 for several hours. Across the Kern County Deserts and in the San Joaquin Valley from Bakersfield southward, heavy rainfall resulted in several roads being closed for a few hours with several reports of nuisance flooding reported by the Emergency Managers office or by law enforcement. There were also several reports of strong wind gusts and some reports of minor wind damage in the Fort Tejon and Tehachapi areas. Further north precipitation amounts were significantly lower although parts of Kings County picked up between a quarter and three quarters of an inch of rainfall. The remainder of the area generally picked up a quarter of an inch or less of liquid precipitation before the system moved to the east of the area during the evening of December 26.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 863280. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.