High Wind — Fort Tejon, California

2021-01-27 · Fort Tejon, California

Event narrative

The Pacific Gas and Electric station at Pelato Peak measured a peak wind gust of 81 mph.

Wider weather episode

A very potent storm system brought heavy precipitation, areas of flooding and damaging winds to the area as it moved through central California between the early morning of January 27 and the morning of January 29. As the storm approached the northern California coast on January 27, strong southeast winds picked up in the Fort Tejon area in the Tehachapi Mountains and along the West Side Hills. For much of the day on the 27th winds were gusting above 45 mph with several stations reporting peak gusts exceeding 60 mph. The winds caused several local power outages. There were also several winds gusts between 45 and 60 mph in the Sierra Nevada which had been impacted just 8 days before by a very strong offshore wind event. This resulted in even more trees being blown down. As the large upper low approached central California, it pulled up a surge of deep moisture which provided for a period of heavy precipitation across much of the area between the evening of January 27 and the morning of January 29. Several stations in the Sierra foothills picked up between 4 and 7 inches of rain while several stations in the San Joaquin Valley from Fresno County northward picked up between 2.5 and 4 inches of rainfall with this system. Further south in the valley several stations in Kings and Tulare Counties picked up between 1 and 2.5 inches of rain while much of the valley portion of Kern County picked up between a half inch and an inch of rain. There were several reports of roadway flooding in the San Joaquin Valley and mudslides and debris flows were reported in the West Side Hills near the Mineral Fire burn area. The storm also brought heavy snowfall to the Sierra Nevada where several stations above 7000 feet picked up between 4 and 6 feet of new snowfall. The snow also restricted travel across the Sierra Nevada and closed several roads. The storm moved through central California on January 28 and 29 and moved out of the area by the afternoon of January 29.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 930410. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.