Heavy Snow — North Kings River, California

2020-11-07 to 2020-11-08 · North Kings River, California

Event narrative

The Volcanic Knob SNOTEL (10500 feet) picked up an estimated 13 inches of new snow.

Wider weather episode

The low pressure system which had moved into the Pacific Northwest on November 6 dropped southward into central California on November 7 which resulted in the first winter storm of the season for the area. Besides bringing much colder temperatures to the area, this storm produced widespread precipitation and gusty winds on November 7 and 8. Most of the Sierra Nevada picked up between half an inch and an inch of liquid precipitation between the morning of November 7 and the afternoon of November 8. The precipitation was mainly in the form of snow above 6000 feet, and several stations in the higher Sierra picked up between 6 and 12 inches of new snowfall. The snow level lowered to 3000 to 3500 feet on November 8, and several higher foothill locations measured 2 to 4 inches of new snowfall. Much of the Kern County Mountains picked up between a quarter and a half inch of liquid precipitation, but the main impact in Kern County were strong winds where gusts exceeded 45 mph at several locations and a few low impact indicator sites had gusts exceeding 55 mph. Much of the the San Joaquin Valley and Kern County Desert areas picked up between a tenth and a quarter inch of rainfall which amounted to the first significant precipitation event in almost six months in these areas. In addition, a few post-frontal thunderstorms produced small hail and ice pellets during the afternoon of November 8 in the eastern portion of the San Joaquin Valley and Sierra foothills.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 920405. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.