‘Highly unusual’ rain showers hit Fresno, forecaster says. Any more rain coming?
Parts of Fresno saw scattered showers Friday in “highly unusual” weather for August, a month that typically scorches the San Joaquin Valley, a meteorologist said.
There wasn’t much precipitation — three-hundredths of an inch officially recorded at Fresno Yosemite International Airport — but there are only four days on record going back to 1881 with any rain in Fresno, according to Bill South, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford.
“It is unusual for rain to make it into the Valley in early August,” he said. “It’s highly unusual.”
Three of those days saw a trace of rain and the fourth set the record for the day at one-tenth of an inch.
Much of the Valley got less than a tenth of an inch on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, he said. That’s also when much of the action took place. In Easton south of downtown Fresno, for instance, two heavy showers pushed a backyard rain gauge past the half-inch mark.
The Valley was expected to dry out by noon Friday. There’s a small chance of another shower midweek, he said.
The wettest part of the Valley was in Kern County where some spots got more than an inch of rain.
The foothills saw about an inch of rain an hour late Thursday, he said, leading to 13 flash flood warnings in parts of the Sierra. There were no reports of significant flooding or mudslides, he said.
There were reports of lightning among clouds, he said, noting the bolts never touched the ground.
The unusual weather for the Valley originated from a monsoonal storm in the eastern Pacific Ocean, he said. The mountains can expect more thunderstorms.
The wet weather has contributed to a slight cooling on the Valley, bringing what has been weeks of triple digits down to highs about 95 degrees, he said.
This story was originally published August 5, 2022 at 8:30 AM.
