Heavy Snow — Central Sierra, California

2020-03-15 to 2020-03-16 · Central Sierra, California

Event narrative

The Devils Postpile SNOTEL picked up an estimated 19 inches of new snow.

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system dropped slowly southward along the California coast on March 15 and 16. This system produced widespread precipitation across the area between the evening of March 15 and the afternoon of March 16. Snow levels plummeted to as low as 2000 feet during the afternoon of March 16 before the precipitation tapered off. Several stations in the mountains picked up heavy snowfall and much of the Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills picked up between 1 to 2 inches of liquid precipitation while much of the San Joaquin Valley picked up between a quarter inch and an inch of rainfall.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 872224. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.