Heavy Snow — Central Sierra, California

2020-05-18 to 2020-05-19 · Central Sierra, California

Event narrative

The Ostrander Lake SNOTEL (8200 feet) picked up an estimated 7.0 inches of new snow.

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system dropped southward off the northern California coast on May 17 than moved inland across central California on May 18. As a result, precipitation spread southward across the area north of Fresno County during the evening of May 17 and became widespread across our area on May 18. Several stations in the Sierra Nevada picked up between an inch and 2.50 inches of liquid precipitation while a few stations from Madera County northward picked up between 2.50 and 3.25 inches of liquid precipitation. Snow levels were between 8000 to 9000 feet early on, but lowered to around 6000 feet by the afternoon of May 18. Several higher elevation SNOTEL stations picked up between 2 and 6 inches of new snowfall while a few stations picked up 7 inches or more. As a cooler airmass pushed into the area during the afternoon of May 18, thunderstorms developed during the afternoon. One thunderstorm produced nuisance roadway flooding near Riverdale while another produced nuisance roadway flooding near Parlier. A third thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud near North Fork. Finally, This system produced a period of strong winds over the Kern County Deserts as well as over the Lake Isabella and Tehachapi areas between the evening of May 18 and the morning of May 19. Several stations in these areas reported wind gusts between 45 and 60 mph. A few low impact indicator sites reported gusts between 60 and 70 mph. The winds diminished by late morning on May 19 as the storm moved out of the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 881927. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.