Weather in the Central California Interior in 2009
The following is account of significant weather by month that I have observed or worked through in 2009.
January 2009 - The year began with a typical foggy day in the valley and mild and dry over the higher elevations. A fast moving cold front pushed through on the 2nd bringing up to a tenth of an inch of rain to the valley and a few inches of powder to the mountains. The next storm moved north of our area on the 5th. Some light warm frontal precipitation brought a few hundredths on an inch of rainfall to some areas, but a period of dry weather with low clouds in the valley followed. The stratus squeezed out as drizzle on the evening of the 8th then skies cleared out over the valley. High pressure remained the main feature for the next two weeks with clear skies except for local dense fog in the valley each morning. Temperatures were unusually warm between the 12th and 21st. The first strong storm of the year hit on the 22nd and 23rd with much of the valley picking up between half and inch and three quarters of an inch of rain. However, snow levels were high with this storm (above 9000 feet). A colder, but weak storm moved through on the 24th and 25 with some light precipitation. The remainder of the month was dry with high pressure over the area. Portions of the valley has a light freeze on the 28th and 29th then the last two mornings of the month were foggy ones in the valley with near zero visibilities for a few hours before giving way to sunny afternoons. The month ended slightly warmer than usual, and much drier than usual.
February 2009 - February began on the warm and dry side with four unusually dry days. Other than some patches of morning fog in the valley, the first three were uneventful. On the 4th an approaching storm brought strong downslope winds to the south end of the valley prompting an advisory. Afternoon temperatures approached 80 in much of the south valley as well. I got to work a simulation exercise of a more powerful storm in Oklahoma City that day. The storm only brought light precipitation to our area, but it was followed on the 6th and 7th by a strong storm which brought half and inch to an inch of rain to much of the valley and up to 3 feet of snow to the higher Sierras. This was followed by another storm on the 8th and 9th which brought a strong cold front through the area on the morning of the 9th. Post frontal convection broke out that afternoon and I was put on the radar to issue warnings. Five minutes into me getting set up a pilot reported a small tornado near Atwater which had already lifted. That cell quickly fell apart, but I followed another cell near Porterville which I was close warning on an hour later. Precipitation amounts were much lower than with the previous storm with much of the valley only picking up a tenth to two tenths on an inch of rain while the higher mountains picked up 8 to 16 inches of new snow. Snow levels were much lower with this storm however, with many foothills locations above 2000 feet picking up some powder. A chilly morning followed on the 10th as skies cleared out with lows in the upper 20s to lower 30s in the valley. I worked the ag expo that day and despite the bad economy which cut down on the number of exhibitors, there were more visitors in attendance to our booth than ever before. A quick hitting storm on the 11th brought another tenth to two tenths of an inch of rain to the valley and some snow to the mountains, but amounts were lower, more like 6 to 12 inches. A cold and strong storm moved through on Friday the 13th bringing snow down to 1500 feet, and about twice the precipitation as the previous storm. I warned on it a day in advance for the Sierras and issued another watch for an even stronger storm on the 16th and 17th which not only brought 18 to 36 inches of snow to the higher mountains, it also brought strong winds which produced near blizzard conditions in the mountains and closed some major highways. This storm brought a quarter to half an inch of rain to much of the valley, but flooding was minimal. A dry spell followed as high pressure kept skies mainly clear over the area between the 18th and 21st. Another major storm was expected on the 22nd and 23rd, but this one spilt on the mountains only picked up 6 to 12 inches of new snow at the higher elevations while the valley had less than a quarter of an inch of rain at most locations. Two more weak storms followed. One on the 25th brought some light showers to the mountains and another on the 26th went north of our area and clipped Merced and Mariposa Counties with some light rain. Temperatures were close to normal for February while precipitation was slightly above normal thanks mainly to the two strong storms.
March 2009 - Active weather continued in March. After a mild and dry day on the 1st the rains returned. A frontal band approached the area on the 2nd, but stalled and hung in place over the Bay Area on the 3rd then only dropped slightly southward on the 4th before finally departing on the 5th. A moist fetch of tropical moisture brought some light precipitation to much of the area on the 2nd and 3rd with snow levels around 9000 feet. Since the precipitation was light runoff was not a problem in the foothills. On the 4th with the stalled front in the area, the precipitation became more significant with 2 to 3 feet of new snow being picked up in the mountains north of Kings Canyon and 1 to 2 feet of new snow south of Kings Canyon. The valley and deserts were rain shadowed and only received light rainfall. Thunderstorms broke out behind the cold front in the afternoon, one cell which tracked near Lemoore and Hanford was warned on twice although there was no verification on it. On the 5th I had a long commute because of a strip of dense for which covered Hanford. I used a NOW to time it's dissipation. Thunderstorms were confined to the western foothills that afternoon as the airmass stabilized some. A weak system brought some light showers on the 6th then high pressure pushed inland. Skies cleared out and a chilly morning followed on the 7th. A dry storm moved through on the morning of the 9th which brought some upslope low clouds to the Sierra Foothills and the Tehachapis and a short period of strong winds over the Kern Mountains and Deserts which prompted an advisory. The following morning was the second coldest morning of the season with lows in the valley mainly in the upper 20s. Temperatures rebounded; however, and after two dry cold front crossed the area on the 12th and 14th and temperatures were above normal from the 16th through the 21st under mainly clear skies. A winter storm with bit more moisture did move through on the morning of the 22nd. Warnings were posted for the mountains and wind advisories for the Kern Deserts and the west side of the valley. Thunderstorms broke out behind the cold front and I issued a warning on one near Le Grand at 328 am, and nearly upgraded it to tornado when strong low level shear was indicated. There was no verification on it as it dissipated within 30 minutes when it quickly moved off into the mountains. Temperatures plummeted 15 to 20 degrees behind the front, and subsequently the 22nd and 23rd were unusually cool days. Rainfall totals were unimpressive for the valley with most locations picking up one to two tenths of an inch, but half and inch to an inch was more common in the Southern Sierras. A return to dry weather followed, and temperatures warmed up through the 28th before a dry storm moved through on the 29th, but this storm didn't even have much on the the way of wind with it as it remained east of our area and just brought a cold front through. Temperatures were closer to normal for the remainder of March which had near normal temperatures and much below normal precipitation.
April 2009 - April began with two warm and dry days. The is was followed by a dry storm on the third which brought strong winds to the Kern Mountains and Deserts and to the west side of the valley which had a dust storm from it. A big warmup occurred on the 6th with near record high temperatures ahead of a big storm. Downslope in the south end of the valley actually prompted a red flag warning because of the drought. The storm moved through on the 7th and the morning of the 8th and some areas picked up good rainfall from strong thunderstorms while others hardly picked up anything. I decided to hold off on winter weather highlights on the 6th because of timing uncertainties with this storm, but some mountain locations above 7000 feet picked up over a foot of snow by the morning of the 8th. A weaker storm moved through on the 10th bringing some thunderstorms to the west side of the valley. One cell strayed into Bakersfield and brought almost half an inch of rain in an hour. High pressure brought a warming trend on the 12th and 13th before a strong cold front pushed through on the 14th. High wind warnings were posted for several zones, but a mid level moisture surge kept the winds lower. An advisory would have been a better fit. Temperatures dropped 12 to 15 degrees on the 14th and several spots in the mountains had a few hundredths of an inch of precipitation and even an inch of snow at a few locations. The valley had some blowing dust issues on the west side because of the ongoing drought. Following unusually cold mornings on the 15th and 16th were low temperatures in the valley were mainly in the mid 30s, a warming trend began on the 17th as a high amplitude ridge built into California. The ridge brought unusually hot temperatures to the area between the 19th and 22nd with records falling somewhere in the area on all four days. A few instability showers popped up in the Sierras each afternoon during that period. A cold front blasted through on the 23rd and lowered temperatures by 25 degrees by the 24th. The remainder of the month was cool and dry. April ended with near normal temperatures although there were some extreme swings. Precipitation was below normal.
May 2009 - The drought came to an end as a warm "southwester" type storm hit Central California on the 1st through early morning on the 2nd. While the worst of the storm was north of our area it did bring 1.5 to 3 inches of rainfall to the higher mountains, 0.75 to 1.5 inches to the foothills and 0.25 to 0.75 inches to the valley. The Kern Deserts didn't get much if anything. Snow levels were above 9000 feet for most of the event. As is usually the case behind these types of storms a large dry ridge then replaces it and once again this happened. A warm and dry airmass prevailed from the 5th to the 11th and was displaced for a day on the 12th as a fast moving cold front pushed through and brought strong winds to the Kern Mountains and Deserts then the heat returned from the 13th through the 23rd. The 16th had temperatures pushing into the triple digits and the 17th was even hotter with many record highs falling as southerly winds picked up ahead of a coastal storm. The colder air aloft with the storm moved over the area on the 18th and the subsequent instability allowed for a severe thunderstorm outbreak that afternoon. I arrived for my swing shift during the middle of the four warning event which affected the mountains and Kern Deserts. The heat continued for the next five days with a few mountain thunderstorms each afternoon. A storing marine push cooled the valley down to near normal for the 24th and 25th. Heat and humidity returned on the 26th and continued through the 29th. A violent thunderstorm hit the Chukchansi casino bear Coarsegold on the afternoon of the 27th with ping pong ball sized hail and heavy rain. This was followed by a six warning outbreak on the 28th which cancelled the graduation ceremony at Hanford High and brought large hail to the Visalia area. Another thunderstorm brought damaging winds to Edwards Air Force base on the 29th and damaged some planes. The airmass modified some on the 30th and 31st although there was still some convection each afternoon. May ended much warmer than usual and also was wetter than usual because of the big storm on the 1st.
June 2009 - June began with three mild and unsettled days with some afternoon thunderstorms in the mountains. Temperatures cooled some on the 4th with a large cutoff low offshore. Just as I began 11 days off on doctors orders, this low moved inland on the morning of the 5th and fired off a historical overnight thunderstorm event which brought large hail to parts of western Fresno County, and heavy rainfall to much the area. A unseasonably cool and dry airmass then prevailed over the area through mid-month as troughs pushed into the Pacific Northwest, but the moisture stayed north of our area. When I returned on the 16th, temperatures began to rebound. A storm moving south of our area brought some mid and high clouds on the 16th, but no rain. A ridge then followed and triple digit heat finally made it's return to the lower elevations on the 19th. A cold front pushed through and the 20th and lowered temperatures by 20 degrees by the 21st. Temperatures rebounded; however, as a strong ridge built into the four corners area and the 23rd through the 30th had above normal temperatures. Triple digits were common across the lower elevations during the last four days of the month and some records fell on the 28th and 29th. Some instability thunderstorms fired off over the Sierras on the 29th and a wave pushed up form the south on the 30th and brought some rain to the Sierras. The cloud cover was extensive enough in the morning to worry a lot of hay growers in the valley, but by afternoon the sun was out. June ended slightly cooler than usual and was a much wetter than usual because of the event on the morning of the 5th.
July 2009 -
August 2009 -
September 2009 -
October 2009 -
November 2009 -
December 2009 -
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