An upper-level ridge was over California at the start of November, creating a stable environment across the central California interior. Fresno tied its record high minimum temperature for the 2nd of 56 degrees, last set in 1941. Areas of fog developed in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley during the morning of November 3rd, but considerably less fog formed the next day.
The ridge remained over California through the 7th, then gave way to an approaching upper-level low. Light showers developed over the Tehachapi Mountains during the late morning of November 8th, as subtropical moisture moved into Kern County and collided with a cold front dropping south through the San Joaquin Valley. This set up a convergence zone over the Tehachapi Mountains that triggered the convection.
Heavy snow showers also occurred in the Southern Sierra Nevada, where up to one foot of new snow fell on November 8th.  This was a significant impact to the mountain regions since quite a bit of mountain recreation was still going on at this time.
After this system moved through, As a result, the air remained moisture laden. A weak short-wave ridge moved over California during the night of November 8th-9th, but this was enough to trigger dense fog development over much of Kings County as well as southern Fresno and western Tulare Counties.
Thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of November 9th. One of these thunderstorms triggered a weak tornado (rated EF0), that touched down 4 miles north northeast of Tipton at 12:55 PM PST. No damage was reported. This was the 86th tornado to touch down in the WFO Hanford���s seven-county warning/forecast area since records began in the 1950���s, and was the 13th to touch down in Tulare County. Other thunderstorms dropped pea-sized hail on northern Hanford. In the Southern Sierra Nevada, several inches of snow fell above 6000 feet, and a couple of inches of snow fell on the floor of Yosemite Valley.
In the wake of this storm, an unseasonably cold airmass settled over the central California interior. Low temperatures fell below freezing across parts of the central and southern San Joaquin Valley on the morning of November 11th and 12th, and the Kern County deserts had their first hard freeze of the season.

Frost/Freeze in SE KERN CTY DESERT, CALIFORNIA
From 11-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 11-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 11-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 11-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in E CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 11-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 11-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SW S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 11-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 11-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SE S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 11-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 11-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 12-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 12-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in E CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 12-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 12-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SW S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 12-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 12-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Frost/Freeze in SE S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 12-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 12-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Tornado in TULARE, CALIFORNIA
From 09-NOV-12 12:55:00 to 09-NOV-12 12:58:00 (PST-8)
Location: OCTOL
Tornado F-scale: EF0
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Report on the weak tornado that occurred south of Tulare on November 9th.
Here are the storm survey results of the tornado. The location was between Tulare and Tipton near the Intersection of avenue 176 and road 128. Tornado lasted for about 3 minutes and did not interact with any private property or buildings. Some branches and corn husks were strewn about. Several eyewitness accounts corroborated a video provided by local media. The tornado path included several utility poles that were not damaged.
The eyewitness video courtesy of KMPH Channel 26 is available on our website.
Wind speed estimate: 65 mph
This was the 86th confirmed tornado in the central California Interior since 1950...and the 13th to strike Tulare county. The last Tornado in Tulare county was on January 27th 2008...when an ef0 touched down 1 mile east of Goshen junction. The most recent tornado in the central California interior occurred on march 17th 2012 when
An ef0 tornado touched down 4 miles southwest of tranquility in Fresno County.

Winter Storm in S SIERRA MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 08-NOV-12 12:00:00 to 10-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

Winter Storm in TULARE CTY MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 08-NOV-12 12:00:00 to 10-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

Frost/Freeze in INDIAN WELLS VLY, CALIFORNIA
From 11-NOV-12 02:00:00 to 11-NOV-12 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet