Weather in the Central California Interior in 2003
The following is account of significant weather by month that I have observed or worked through in 2003.
January 2003 - The wet pattern that prevailed for much of November and December made a total 180 as ridging prevailed over California for much of the month, and as a result storms tracked to the north of our area. Persistent dense fog prevailed on the 3rd, 4th and 5th. On the evening of the 5th, a strong cold front crossed the area. Even though the front was dry it made an impact. A Mono wind event set up behind it on the 6th. I hit this event long before it happened with a special weather statement. After the winds died off, dense fog returned to the valley on the 7th and 8th before breaking up on the 9th. A storm brought some light rainfall and mountain snowfall on the 10th, but that was about it for precipitation for the month. I was in a heated debate with a neighboring office about the next three days. I went for mild and dry since dynamics were nowhere to be seen. They went wet and put out winter storm warnings. We would not budge at all and verification proved that I was indeed correct. The next few days were sunny and unusually warm for January. During that warm spell a large illegal wood pile in Fresno caught fire and created an environmental disaster. We issued two spots a day for this mess for over a month. Low level inversions combined with smoke from the fire to form a toxic smog that compared to that during my days in Medford in the mid 1990s. The month ended much warmer and much drier than normal.
February 2003 - A strong cold front crossed the area during the afternoon and evening on the 1st. This brought a cold and dry airmass to the area. Between the 3rd and the 10th. Low temperatures were around freezing across much of the valley. The morning of the 8th was the coldest of the winter as valley lows were mostly in the 20s that morning. A winter storm hit on the 12th which finally ended the long dry spell. This storm was a warm southwester and snow levels were above 8000 feet. A quarter to half an inch of rain was common in the valley while the mountains and foothills picked up an inch to several inches. Several small streams in the south end of the valley flooded as water ran off form the Tehachapi mountains. A cold front crossed the area on the 13th. Thunderstorms broke out in conditional symmetric instability behind it, and one rotating cell produced a mesocyclone alarm. A tornado warning was issued on it, but no tornado was spotted. The showers continued well into the night and produced more nuisance flooding in the valley. I worked the midnight shift during those events and took some nocturnal spotter calls on the heavy rains. Another major storm was expected on the 16th, but it wimped out and was only a light rain maker, and the overtime reinforcements that were on call to help out that day were asked to stay home instead. A minor winter storm brought some rain and mountain snows on the 24th. This was followed by inside slider systems that brought some showers to the mountains the next there days. There were some locally heavy accumulations in upslope favored locations. The month ended slightly cooler than normal and close to normal on precipitation.
March 2003 - The beginning of the month was fairly quiet. High pressure kept storms away from us. A big storm hit on the 14th and 15th which brought heavy snows to the mountains. On the afternoon of the 15th I was called in to help when widespread thunderstorms broke out. Only one cell was warned on. That didn't even verify. The storms did produce nuisance flooding that prompted advisories. A prolonged high wind event continued in the Kern Mountains through the following three days. The models continued to try and end it too soon. Dry and warm weather prevailed for the last third of the month as high pressure prevailed. The 31st featured record highs. For the month, temperatures averaged a little above normal. Precipitation was much below normal, and was mainly confined to one strong storm.
April 2003 - The month began with two winter storms. The first one hit during the afternoon of the 1st. The post frontal showers and thunderstorms the following day provided little if any excitement. A stronger storm hit on the evening of the 3rd. This storm was a major snow producer in the mountains, and actually was the first storm of the season (and winter has already ended) to bring snow down to parts of the valley floor the following day. Some afternoon thunderstorms on the 4th brought extra help to the floor. I watched the radar, and came close to warning on one cell; but it was rapidly weakening when I received the hail reports from it. High pressure then returned for the next week. After two chilly mornings on the 5th and 6th, temperatures moderated to near normal. After a brief warm and dry spell a winter storm hit on the 13th and 14th prompting winter storm warnings for the mountains for heavy snows and strong winds. This storm brought 2 to 4 feet of new powder to the mountains above 7000 feet north of Kings Canyon and also brought over a half inch of rain to much of the valley. I issued some NOWs while I worked midnights during the event. The swing shift on the 14th had a cell that produced half inch hail as it sliced through Fresno during a post frontal thunderstorm event produced by conditional symmetric instability. No warnings were needed or issued, but it drove some farmers crazy. The next storm hit on the 17th and brought heavy post frontal thunderstorm rains to the valley. No warnings were needed but a flood advisory was as Fresno and Visalia both had some street flooding. Yet another storm hit on the 21st bringing more rains and small hail to the valley. A fast moving storm brought some snows to the mountains north of Kings Canyon on the 24th, but the valley was rain shadowed. Another storm on the 28th brought rain up to half an inch and some locally heavy mountain snows to the northern half of our area. The month ended up being much colder and much wetter than average which has been the recent trend in April.
May 2003 - The unusually cold and wet weather that prevailed through April continued into May as a winter storm hit on the 2nd and 3rd. Another 1 to 2 feet of snow hit the mountains. The valley was again hit by heavy rains from post frontal thunderstorms on the 3rd. As I began my swing shift heavy rains in the Porterville area prompted a flood advisory. I took calls indicating that two homes were damaged. Later on in the shift there were several reports of funnel clouds near Merced and Atwater although radar didn't show much. On the 7th and 8th a winter storm brought strong winds to the Kern Deserts prompting a high wind warning, and some locally heavy snows in the Yosemite area prompting a snow advisory. I followed this storm while on a run of seven straight midnights, and simply watched as the valley didn't pick up much rainfall while the storm moved through. After a brief warm-up, thunderstorms fired up behind a cold front on the 14th. While only light rainfall amounts were reported (a few hundredths here or there). A farmer who lost his wheat crop from the recent rains tried to report a false tornado (to get more insurance pay out). We wouldn't fall for him although some microbursts did damage a few structures. The second half of May was a big change. Temperatures skyrocketed as a hot and dry airmass prevailed over the area. Rapid snow melt caused the Merced River to come close to flooding in Yosemite Park. This was the first river flooding (lasting longer than two days) that I had to deal with since moving here. The fair weather allowed for the ASOS near the office to be moved to a more representative location which should cut down our wintertime pilot complaints. Temperatures across the valley and Kern deserts soared well into triple digits on the 28th and 29th. This helped average out the month and temperatures ended up being near normal for May. Precipitation was well above normal thanks to the big storm on the 3rd.
June 2003 - The hot and dry airmass that prevailed during the second half of May continued on well into June and kept clear skies over the area. Marine air kept the heat at bay from the 10th to the 13th and from the 19th to the 24th. Otherwise this month was a scorcher with the 26th through the 29 being obnoxiously hot with triple digit heat below 3000 feet. Arsonists took advantage of the dry conditions and set several fires in the area. Most of them were near Lake Isabella. Temperatures averaged above normal and precipitation was below normal as the month was totally dry.
July 2003 - I brought some hot taquitos to the office on the 2nd and it set the pace for the entire month. Temperatures soared into triple digits almost every day after the first week in the valley, foothills and deserts. The arsonists continued to go crazy during the first half of the month and set several fires although none of them required a lot of support. Unwelcome monsoonal moisture came in late in the month to make the extreme heat much worse. The heat advisory became a routine part of some of my shifts. Thunderstorms fired up as a result of the moisture and these brought welcome rains to the area ending over two months of drought. I nearly warned on a storm over the mountains on the 28th, but it fell apart just as I had a warning ready to go. A thunderstorm hit Hanford on the 29th as most of the office was dining together downtown. On the 30th, a microburst from a thunderstorm damaged some planes at Edwards Air Force Base. A strong slow moving thunderstorm produced flash flooding near Tehachapi on the 31st. The month was one of the hottest July's of all time and was also wetter then normal. The worst part of the month was that lightning from some of the thunderstorms started several fires and the mountains, and with resources sent to fight larger fires in Montana and Idaho these fires were allowed to burn and that increased our workload since the smoke from these fires raised pollution issues.
August 2003 - Monsoonal moisture continued into early August. Thunderstorms on the 1st produced flash flooding in the Kern Mountains. I was able to be part of the action on the 2nd when a slow moving thunderstorm brought flash flooding to Sequoia National Park during my swing shift. We actually kept the day shift over for 2 to 3 hours. The monsoonal moisture was pushed out of the area after that event and calm weather prevailed for the next two weeks. Then something wierd happened. A low pressure system that was over North Carolina on the 12th moved west and moved over southern California by the 16th. This system brought the unwelcome hot and humid conditions that prevailed in late July back into the area. Thunderstorms broke out just as my shift ended. These storms were slow movers and produced flash flooding in the Kern mountains. A funnel cloud was filmed near Ridgecrest, and some storms even hit the valley late in the evening. My co-workers even warned on one. On the 21st a thunderstorm hit the office and actually put 0.07 in our bucket. Thunderstorms brought nuisance flooding to the mountains on the 24th and 25th. I issued a small stream flood advisory on the 25th. Nocturnal thunderstorms on the morning of the 26th brought some overnight excitement to the office. It was all over by the time I came in that afternoon. The remainder of the month was dry. Temperatures were again above normal and precipitation was also above normal making this one of the hottest and wettest summers of all time. The oddity of the month was that I was unable to work because of illness on the 12th and 13th.
September 2003 - The hot and steamy monsoonal pattern returned to begin September as triple digit highs were the rule for much of the area for the first five days. Thunderstorms broke out on the afternoon of the 2nd. My shift (the midnight shift) decided to issue a flash flood watch in anticipation of problems in eastern Kern County. A severe thunderstorm hit Edwards Air Force Base that evening with strong winds. Unlike three years ago, the heavier rains stayed out of the valley and spared the sensitive raisin crop. On the afternoon of the 3rd, strong thunderstorms produced street flooding around Lake Isabella. My co-workers warned twice and took two strikes. On the fourth the thunderstorms moved south, and the San Diego office pretended to be in Central Region and issued 14 short fused warnings in one day. Now that's the kind of shift I have not worked since 1999. Milder marine air came in for a few days to put out the fireworks, but the heat returned for the middle of the month. This time the heat was dry, and skies remained mostly clear for the rest of the month. I worked an uneventful swing shift on the 18th when Hurricane Isabel slammed into the DC area. Pollution became the main issue late in the month as a wildfire in Yosemite Park caused problems in the Fresno area during an prolonged offshore flow pattern. Spots for resource burns in the mountains were a concern for much of the month. Temperatures were above normal for the month and precipitation was below normal as the area remained dry after the third.
October 2003 - The warm and dry pattern continued well into October. Temperatures remained above normal and precipitation did not fall until Halloween day when the first "winter storm" of the season brought some light rainfall to the valley and foothills and some light snow to the mountains. The storm extinguished most of the resource burns in the mountains so it had a huge benefit.
November 2003 - The month began on the cool side following the Halloween storm. Temperatures ran several degrees below normal through the 5th. A weak storm brought some light precipitation on the 3rd. This was followed by the first frost on the 4th. The airmass then warmed until a strong storm hit on the 8th and 9th (a reminder of last year). The storm brought a good quarter to half on an inch of rainfall to the valley and 10 to 20 inches of snow above 7000 feet. The post frontal convection on the 9th remained mainly north of our area although one heavy shower caused some flooding near Mendota. I was lucky and was on a three day break when this storm hit. The first morning with any dense fog in the valley this season occured on the 11th. A storm moving south of the area on the 12th brought another 5 to 10 inches of powder to mountains, but the valley didn't get much rain, if any, from it. A storm moving north of the area on the 14th and 15th grazed the Yosemite Park area and dropped a few more inches of powder at higher elevations. Once again the valley didn't pick up much. Dry conditions were the rule for the for the next week just after the fire season was declared over. A dry cold front blasted through on the 21st and brought a brief shot a strong winds to the mountains and deserts. This was followed by clear and fog free conditions for several days. Morning lows were the coldest that I had seen in the area (since moving here) on the 23rd through the 25th as most of the valley bottomed out in the mid 20s. Although the American models tried to bring two storms into the area late in the month, their foreign counterparts prevailed; and the area remained under the cold and dry airmass. The month ended cooler and drier than usual.
December 2003 - The cold airmass that prevailed over the area in late November modified and December began on the mild side. The third was the first real foggy day in the valley in over two weeks. Minor storms hit the area with some light precipitation on the 5th and 7th. Heavier precipitation was anticipated with the second storm, but it remained north of our area. A decent storm finally hit on the 11th which triggered several winter weather and wind advisories. The valley even picked up about a quarter to half an inch of much needed rain. Some thunderstorms popped up that afternoon, but didn't do much. A even stronger storm hit on the 14th and brought some more welcome rains (the office picked up almost half an inch in one hour that morning) and produced heavy snows across higher elevations. Even Yosemite Park headquarters picked up some powder from this one. After a few tranquil days with morning lows around the freezing mark, a strong storm hit to our north and just grazed the area with some light precipitation on the 19th and 20th then a weak trough brought some more light precipitation on the 23rd. It took Santa Claus to end the long drought with a monster storm on Christmas day. He brought around an inch of rain to much of the valley as a present and also provided skiers with 3 to 5 feet of snow across higher elevations. The models were screaming severe thunderstorms that afternoon, but a persistent cloud cover kept the atmosphere stable enough to inhibit convection. I was scheduled off that day and was "on call" in case additional help was needed. With the lack of convection and mainly just nuisance flooding in the area, I wasn't needed; and was able to spend the day with family. Another storm brought heavy rains north of Fresno on the 29th and 30th, but areas south of Fresno didn't see much. The Yosemite Park area picked up an additional 1 to 2 feet of snow from this storm though. December ended much warmer than normal, and also wetter than normal thanks to Santa bringing the big Christmas storm.
And back to The TxKid Homepage