3,441 first-hand accounts of flood events in California, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
A Winter Storm, brought heavy precipitation and thunderstorms with damaging winds as it moved onshore through Southwest California. In the mountains above 5500 feet elevation, 9 to 14 inches of snow fell.
Read the full account →Heavy rain sent a large debris flow rushing across all lanes of Interstate 215 near the Interstate 15 connector. Water continued to rush across the road for hours. The freeway had to be shutdown for the remainder of the day so crews could clean up the mess.
Read the full account →Weak low pressure off the Southern California Coast entrained tropical moisture that resulted numerous rainfall report of 2.5 to 3 inches of rain in the Kern County Mountains around Frazier Park from the evening of the 17th into the morning of the 18th.
Read the full account →A significant, low elevation snowstorm struck San Diego County when an inside slider over southern Nevada quickly and suddenly transitioned into an outside slider over the Southern California bight.
Read the full account →There was a break in the weather on December 23rd and 24th, as a weak upper-level ridge moved into California. Light winds and a stable airmass aloft allowed areas of dense fog to develop over parts of the central and southern San Joaquin Valley.
Read the full account →There was a break in the weather on December 23rd and 24th, as a weak upper-level ridge moved into California. Light winds and a stable airmass aloft allowed areas of dense fog to develop over parts of the central and southern San Joaquin Valley.
Read the full account →An upper level low pressure system spread considerable moisture into southeast California, and led the development of scattered thunderstorms over Riverside county on the 13th of September.
Read the full account →Rainfall in excess of 2.5" in just over 30 hours lead to water covered roadways in several locations around Kings County. Hanford measured 2.82" of rain in that time period with the cities of Lemoore and Corcoran receiving just over 3" of rain.
Read the full account →A weak monsoon pattern that had persisted for several days produced 2 separate isolated supercell thunderstorms over the San Diego County desert late in the afternoon on the 12th. The storm was fueled by a surge in low level moisture late in the day.
Read the full account →A weak monsoon pattern that had persisted for several days produced 2 separate isolated supercell thunderstorms over the San Diego County desert late in the afternoon on the 12th. The storm was fueled by a surge in low level moisture late in the day.
Read the full account →A large moisture surge moved over the area as monsoon flow rotated around the western edge of an upper high over the southern plains and into southern California.
Read the full account →An upper-level short-wave moved into California on April 10th, flattening the ridge. ||This set the stage for back-to-back strong storms to move through the central California interior on the 11th, 12th, and 13th.
Read the full account →After a wet start to the month, a series of 3 storms traversed the region between the 19th and 24th of January. The storms produced flooding rains, extreme mountain snowfall, and strong winds from the coast to the deserts.
Read the full account →A strong low pressure system made its way through Northern and Central California accompanied by deep tropical moisture and very strong winds. Heavy rain combined with the wind to cause numerous trees, tree limbs and pole/telephone powers to fall.
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 →A winter storm that took two days to cross Southwest California created near blizzard conditions in the mountains, forcing the closure of all roads. In San Bernardino County, the Wrightwood received between 27 and 60 inches of snow.
Read the full account →A strong atmospheric river brought heavy rain to all of Northwest California but particularly targeted in the northern half of the forecast area in Humboldt, Del Norte, and Trinity counties.
Read the full account →A strong atmospheric river brought heavy rain to all of Northwest California but particularly targeted in the northern half of the forecast area in Humboldt, Del Norte, and Trinity counties.
Read the full account →Liquid totals reached 3-6 across the Eastern Sierra, Tahoe Basin , and Northeast California from the series of storms. Snowfall in the Sierra from this multi-day event was generally 3-6 feet in areas above 7000 feet, with 1-2 feet down to lake level in the Tahoe Basin and along…
Read the full account →High pressure ridging became the dominant weather feature during March 8th-10th and brought warm, dry conditions to the area; temperatures were at least several degrees above the seasonal average during much of this period.||The ridge somewhat weakened on March 11th through the…
Read the full account →August began with interior central California caught between a strong upper-level ridge over the southern United States and an upper-level trough off the Pacific Northwest coast.
Read the full account →A high pressure ridge expanded back into California on August 22nd. Monsoonal moisture rotating around the ridge core brought mid and high clouds to central California on the 22nd, and again the next day.
Read the full account →On the 28th, southeast winds aloft began to bring mid-level moisture from northern Mexico and the Desert Southwest. For the first time in approximately three weeks, isolated thunderstorms developed over the Sierra crest around Kings Canyon and points just to the north and east.
Read the full account →June was certainly a month of extremes that produced near record heat in the San Joaquin Valley, many days of unseasonably cool weather, and even a day of record shattering rainfall.
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