Storm warnings: Hail and rain in Valley, snow in Sierra mountains, funnel cloud
Hail was coming down in the central San Joaquin Valley on Friday afternoon as snow fell across the Sierra Nevada.
There is a winter weather advisory in effect for the Sierra foothills, and a winter storm warning for the mountains, through the weekend.
A funnel cloud was spotted just east of Sanger around 2:20 p.m. Friday – “relatively unusual” for the Valley – but there were no reports of that cloud touching the ground, said meteorologist Bill South with the National Weather Service in Hanford. (At least two tornadoes have been reported this winter in the region.)
South said hail is the region’s main weather hazard.
South said pea-sized hail was reported in Los Banos, Chowchilla, Sanger and Fresno – although the majority of hail is expected south of the city of Fresno.
Thunderstorms moved south and were mostly in Tulare County by mid-afternoon Friday. South said wind gusts can reach around 45 mph near thunderstorm activity.
Storms are going to be “off and on” all weekend, he said, and will continue to get colder. Snow is expected as low as 1,500 feet. Four to eight inches of snow is expected above that elevation over the weekend. It was snowing in some mountain towns Friday afternoon, including Oakhurst in Madera County, around 2,200 feet in elevation.
Fresno has received about 2.26 inches of rain this month – about 1.25 inches more than what is normal this time of the year, South said. On Friday, Fresno had received around 0.11 inches of rain by the early afternoon. The city received 0.12 inches of rain Thursday.
Dryer weather is expected to return early next week, South said, when precipitation from this “colder-than-normal storm system” should stop.
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 1:22 PM.
