Dense fog follows winter storm south of Fresno. Just how much rain fell in the area?

The weather forecast in Fresno has turned dry and warmer following the set of storm fronts that rolled through the central San Joaquin Valley on Monday.

Which means fog is expected over the next few days, with morning visibility dropping below a mile in some areas. On Tuesday, the National Weather Service issued a dense fog advisory for an area of Highway 198 south of Fresno, where visibility was a quarter mile or less in Visalia, Hanford, Porterville and nearby areas.

The advisory remained in effect until noon.

Valley storm rain totals

The atmospheric river, which continues its move east over the Four Corners area of the U.S., dropped a record-setting amount of rain in Fresno on Monday. The National Weather Service reported .53 inches of rain in the area Monday morning.

Total rainfall for the day was measured at .86 inches. That broke the daily rain record — set in 1927 — by nearly a half inch.

The storm brings October’s rain total to 1.27 inches, well above the historic average for the month. The last year Fresno saw this much rain in October was 2009. For the year, the area has seen 5.17 inches of rain, just one inch shy of last year’s total, but still more than six inches under the historic norm.

More than six inches of rain fell in the Yosemite Valley over the past 36 hours, according to the National Weather Service. Rivers and creeks in the area saw substantial rise, but didn’t reach flood stage. Merced River was measured 8.5 feet at the Pohono Bridge. That’s 1.5 feet below flood stage, the park service said.

Tioga and Glacier Point Roads remain temporarily closed until further notice.

This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 9:48 AM.