3,441 first-hand accounts of flood events in California, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
The new year (and decade) began with the latest in a series of Pacific storms that stretched back to December 17th, 2010. This storm brought strong, gusty winds to the region, especially to the base of the Grapevine, where gusts up to 89 mph were recorded on January 2nd.
Read the full account →An Atmospheric River event brought heavy rain and gusty winds with a strong winter storm that impacted the Bay Area for several days in mid-December. Cyclogenesis occurred with a 979 mb low forming off the Northern California coast.
Read the full account →An Atmospheric River event brought heavy rain and gusty winds with a strong winter storm that impacted the Bay Area for several days in mid-December. Cyclogenesis occurred with a 979 mb low forming off the Northern California coast.
Read the full account →The first powerful storm of the month slammed into Central and Southern California. Powerful winds buffeted the entire area. Hearst Castle, in San Luis Obispo county, reported winds gusting to 90 mph. Elsewhere, winds gusting in excess of 70 mph were reported.
Read the full account →Widespread rain with twenty four hour accumulations of more than 5 inches occured over the area on Feb 13 into February 14th. Urban and small stream flooding occured in nost counties of the area. Many roads including Hwy 1 and Hwy 116 were closed.
Read the full account →One to two inches of rain and 4 to 10 inches of snow fell from a slow moving storm system. In the morning hours, mud and rock slides occurred on mountain and foothill highways before rain turned to snow, while streets flooded over the inland and desert valleys.
Read the full account →Widespread flash flooding resulted in the closure of the southbound 15 freeway between Highway 79 and Rainbow Valley Rd. De Portola Road was littered with debris and rocks. Many low water crossings were washed out.
Read the full account →The upper-level high pressure ridge moved inland on July 11th, with a low pressure area moving to along the coast. This pattern set up a southerly wind pattern over California, drawing up monsoonal moisture from the southeast on the 12th.
Read the full account →The second powerful winter storm in a week raced through the region on December 12th and 13th. The storm brought high winds, heavy rain, and caused minor to moderate damage.
Read the full account →The fourth, and strongest, in a series of winter storms pounded the region on the 21st and 22nd, bringing another round of gusty winds, heavy rain, thunderstorms, several feet of snow in the mountains, and flooding throughout the CWA.
Read the full account →The stormy pattern from early October continued into the 6th and 7th of the month with more flooding and storms around the interior of Central California.||On October 6th, the showers continued over the Sierra and much of the San Joaquin Valley, including the west side.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms developed across Joshua Tree National Park during the early afternoon hours on September 7th. Due to the very moist and unstable nature of the atmosphere, the thunderstorms produced locally heavy rainfall with rain rates well in excess of one inch per hour.
Read the full account →Isolated to scattered thunderstorms developed across portions of Imperial and eastern Riverside county during the afternoon hours on September 2nd, and they continued into the evening.
Read the full account →Isolated to scattered thunderstorms continued over the mountains, deserts, and portions of the Inland Empire, producing flash flooding each afternoon and evening through the 7th, with a brief lull in activity on the 1st.
Read the full account →A cold Pacific storm combined with an atmospheric river brought heavy rain and snow to southern California. 3 day precipitation amounts as high as 4 to 7 inches occurred in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Read the full account →A cold Pacific storm combined with an atmospheric river brought heavy rain and snow to southern California. 3 day precipitation amounts as high as 4 to 7 inches occurred in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Read the full account →A cold Pacific storm combined with an atmospheric river brought heavy rain and snow to southern California. 3 day precipitation amounts as high as 4 to 7 inches occurred in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Read the full account →A large upper low pressure system and associated trough moved across California on February 13 bringing widespread moderate to heavy precipitation to the area along with damaging wind gusts. Several reports of nuisance flooding were reported on February 13.
Read the full account →An area of low pressure that moved in from the eastern Pacific combined with abundant low-level moisture with precipitable water values exceeding 1, which is near record levels for early June, to result in pockets of showers and thunderstorms across portions of southeast CA…
Read the full account →The environment across southeast California on August 25th was primed for strong to severe thunderstorms with very moist and unstable conditions in place.
Read the full account →The environment across southeast California on August 25th was primed for strong to severe thunderstorms with very moist and unstable conditions in place.
Read the full account →The environment across southeast California on August 25th was primed for strong to severe thunderstorms with very moist and unstable conditions in place.
Read the full account →The environment across southeast California on August 25th was primed for strong to severe thunderstorms with very moist and unstable conditions in place.
Read the full account →A series of atmospheric rivers brought moderate to heavy precipitation to interior northern California in the third week of December through the Christmas holiday. A Convergence Zone set up over Redding/Shasta County around 1 PM on Sunday, December 21.
Read the full account →