High Wind in Kern County Desert, California

The Southern California Edison station at Little Oak Canyon measured a peak wind gust of 62 mph.

A low pressure system that was situated off the Pacific Northwest coast on February 11 dropped southward into central California during the evening into the early morning of February 12 spreading widespread precipitation across the area. Much of the Sierra Nevada and adjacent foothills picked up between half an inch and an inch of liquid precipitation with several stations at elevations above 7000 feet picking up between 5 and 10 inches of new snow. Rainfall amounts were lower in the San Joaquin Valley where most stations picked up a quarter of an inch or less of rain. A second system which was moisture deficient followed on February 13 and produced strong wind gusts across the Lake Isabella and Tehachapi areas as well as across the Kern County Deserts where several stations measured gusts exceeding 45 mph with some stations in the deserts briefly measuring gusts above 60 mph. A few low impact indicator sites had gusts above 70 mph. The winds caused at least three accidents involving tractor trailers in the Mojave area during the afternoon and evening of February 13. The winds finally decreased on February 14 as the upper trough that was associated with these two systems moved to the east of our area.