Fresno sets a rain record, along with another Valley city, on a day of downpour

All that rain that poured down in Fresno on Thursday ended up setting a record.

The National Weather Service in Hanford logged Fresno with a record 1.54 inches of rain as of Thursday night and the rainfall was still going strong nearing midnight.

Fresno’s old record was 0.75 inches of rain, set in 1950.

There had not been reports of any major incidents involving the rain.

But a red vehicle was stuck in the water due to flooding near Fresno Yosemite International Airport at Clinton Way and McKinley, where there’s an aqueduct nearby.

Spruce Avenue also was closed between Helm and Peach due to flooding and pavement issues. Crews will be onsite Friday for repairs to reopen the roadway.

In the South Valley, Hanford also broke a record with 1.3 inches of total rain. Its old record for the day was 0.45 inches, also set in 1950.

“It’s not so much rainfall rates rather than the atmospheric rivers that are overly rare,” said Andy Bollenbacher, NWS meteorologist in Hanford. “The upper low was kind of spinning out up towards northwest and it needed another boost of energy to start digging to the south. And that pushed the front to the south, but there was basically nothing passing through.

“This heavy rain is basically forming around the cold front and the stationary front yesterday. There was nothing really pushing through until we got another wave of energy that came through and it’s pushing the whole system.”

Meanwhile, Clovis collected as much as 1.82 inches of rain on the northside of town and 1.29 inches on the southside.

More intense showers were expected around 2 a.m.-3 a.m.

There is also a chance of a thunderstorm Friday afternoon around 1 p.m.

In the mountains, Yosemite snowfall reached 58 inches and had increased significantly since mid-morning Thursday.

“We’re getting a little more progressive pattern now,” Bollenbacher said. “That being said, you can see how slow it’s moving, but the little bits of energy that we get through are slowly kicking through the larger system and pushing it to the east. It’s speeding up a little bit now. It should be out of here tomorrow.

“Sometimes with this system, you get cold air aloft after the big rain event happens. There is actually a chance you can get some convection and some thunderstorms in the Valley (on Friday).”

This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 10:54 PM.