High Wind — Lake Isabella, California

2020-11-18 · Lake Isabella, California

Event narrative

The Bear Peak RAWS measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph.

Wider weather episode

A Pacific low pressure system moved through northern California on November 18. Downslope winds ahead of this system resulted in an unseasonably warm day in the San Joaquin Valley on November 17 with Bakersfield setting a new record high temperature for the day and several other locations coming with a few degrees of setting new records. As the system moved through on the 18th widespread precipitation fell north of Kern County. Several stations in the Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills around Yosemite Park picked between a half inch and an inch of liquid precipitation with snow generally falling above 7000 feet where several stations measured between 5 and 10 inches of new snowfall. Further south in Fresno County many station picked up between a quarter and a half inch of liquid precipitation while only light precipitation fell in Tulare County. In the San Joaquin Valley, some stations near Merced picked up half an inch of rainfall while further south amounts generally ranged from a few hundredths of an inch to a quarter inch of rain. In Kern County, gusty winds accompanied this system with several stations in the Kern County Mountains recording peak wind gusts between 40 and 55 mph with a few stations measuring gusts above 55 mph. The winds decreased by the morning of November 19 as the system moved to the east of the region.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 921863. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.