3,441 first-hand accounts of flood events in California, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
An atmospheric river (300-400 IVT) brought widespread heavy rain to Southern California on April 6th. A few showers lingered into April 7th, but it was low impact.
Read the full account →A major atmospheric river impacted Southern California February 13th through 15th bringing heavy rain and high winds. Over the course of 48 hours, many mountain locales recorded 8 to 10 inches of rain, with Palomar Mountain (San Diego County) recording over 10 inches of rain in…
Read the full account →Scattered thunderstorms developed across the lower deserts of Imperial County - from the Imperial Valley eastward to the lower Colorado River valley - during the afternoon and evening hours on September 25th.
Read the full account →A low pressure system moved over Southern California, bringing rain and high level mountain snow. Coast and valley areas received between 0.50 inch and 1 inch, with locally higher amounts up to 2 inches in the valleys.
Read the full account →A broad upper level Pacific trough moved through the West Coast on September 14-15 and tapped into remnant tropical cyclone Linda moisture west of the California Bight. Widespread and locally heavy rainfall developed across the entire CWA with 1 to 2 inches of rainfall common.
Read the full account →A large Pacific plume of moisture ahead of an advancing trough of low pressure brought heavy rain and periods of serious flooding for nearly a week. The plume of moisture responsible was a form of an Atmospheric River.
Read the full account →A powerful Pacific storm fed by warmer than normal El Nino conditions in the eastern Pacific, slammed into southern California with strong winds, thunderstorms, and very heavy rain. This was the final in a series of heavy storms which pummelled the region this month.
Read the full account →Low pressure formed off the coast of California and tapped into tropical moisture which lead to widespread Valley rain, mountain snow, and eventually even thunderstorm development over interior northern California.
Read the full account →Flooding from heavy rains in late December continued into the early morning of January 1st. Hardest hit areas in the County were Fairfax, San Anselmo, Novato, Inverness, Ross and Mill Valley.
Read the full account →This was a two day storm event that began late in the day on January 10 with strong winds and contained several moderate to heavy rain bands. Wind blew two trees onto vehicles and ripped off a roof in the Apple Valley.
Read the full account →Showers continued across the area during the morning of March 1 behind the storm which had brought rain and snow to the area during the previous two days.
Read the full account →A major atmospheric river impacted Southern California February 13th through 15th bringing heavy rain and high winds. Over the course of 48 hours, many mountain locales recorded 8 to 10 inches of rain, with Palomar Mountain (San Diego County) recording over 10 inches of rain in…
Read the full account →A cold unstable upper level low pressure system from the northwest brought widespread heavy rain, thunderstorms and mountain snow to southern California over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Read the full account →A powerful Pacific low pressure system continued to develop across the desert southwest on November 28th, and it interacted with considerable moisture to produce bands of moderate to heavy rain across the eastern portions of Riverside County during the evening hours.
Read the full account →An upper-level trough combined with strong instability (SB CAPE of 2000+ J/KG) and high moisture content (PWAT of 1.7+ inches) to result in the development of strong to severe thunderstorms across portions of Riverside and Imperial Counties during the afternoon and early evening…
Read the full account →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 →A retrograding upper level low combined with highly anomalous moisture values allowed for showers and thunderstorms to develop across southeast California and produce several instances of flash flooding along with isolated damaging wind gusts.
Read the full account →An MCS developed in the afternoon in western Arizona and spread southwest through Riverside and Imperial counties during the evening and early overnight hours.
Read the full account →A moisture plume with a weak atmospheric river arrived on December 5th and brought rain to the region. On December 6th, a strong closed upper level low pressure brought an unstable air mass into Southern California with showers and thunderstorms, especially Orange and San Diego…
Read the full account →A series of systems fed by a continued influx of very moist air was pushed into the central California interior through an atmospheric river set-up for several days.
Read the full account →The major flooding that began late in December continued into early January. Widespread low-land flooding across the county persisted with the hardest hit areas around the Russian River in Healdsburg and Guerneville.
Read the full account →Widespread county flooding occurred after 2 to 4 inches of rain fell on the area in about 24 hours. Urban flooding initiated landslides that contributed to the damage, and small streams and creeks overflowed their banks.
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 →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 →