An upper-level short-wave moved into California on April 10th, flattening the ridge.
This set the stage for back-to-back strong storms to move through the central California interior on the 11th, 12th, and 13th. Each storm triggered severe thunderstorms over the central and southern San Joaquin Valley with hail up to 1.75 inches in diameter.  Tallies of agricultural and crop loss approached 100 million dollars due to the extensive hail damage across Kings, Tulare, Fresno, and Merced counties. Funnel clouds were observed, although none touched down. The first storm brought up to a foot of snow to the Southern Sierra Nevada, and the second���colder���storm dropped up to 30 inches of snow at Lodgepole in Sequoia National Park.
Record rainfall fell on the central and southern San Joaquin Valley. By 8 AM on April 11th, the rainfall at Meadows Field, Bakersfield, had already broken the record for the date. Two days later, the rainfall records at both Bakersfield and Fresno had fallen by 11 AM. Some street flooding was reported, especially near the Fresno State campus.
Some urban street flooding was also reported with the renewed thunderstorms on April 13th in the Fresno area.
The high temperature at Bakersfield on April 13th was only 57 degrees, and occurred at 2 AM. The high tied the record low maximum temperature for the date, last set in 1939. Fresno���s high of 55 degrees on the 13th occurred at 1:50 AM, and just missed the record low maximum temperature of 54 degrees, set in 1998.

Thunderstorm Wind in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 14:00:00 to 13-APR-12 14:10:00 (PST-8)
Location: KERMAN
Magnitude: 50.00 EG
Property damage: 50.00K
Crop damage: 25.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Local media reported a carport and 30 almond trees destroyed by strong thunderstorm winds in the town of Kerman.

Winter Storm in S SIERRA MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 12-APR-12 16:00:00 to 13-APR-12 22:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 50.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

Winter Storm in TULARE CTY MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 12-APR-12 16:00:00 to 13-APR-12 22:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 30.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Park/Forest Service

Funnel Cloud in TULARE, CALIFORNIA
From 11-APR-12 14:00:00 to 11-APR-12 14:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: TRAVER
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Trained weather spotter viewed a persistent funnel cloud that never reached the ground, near Traver on April 11th, 2012.

Hail in TULARE, CALIFORNIA
From 11-APR-12 14:26:00 to 11-APR-12 14:46:00 (PST-8)
Location: TRAVER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Hail in MERCED, CALIFORNIA
From 12-APR-12 16:45:00 to 12-APR-12 17:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: ATWATER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Trained spotters reported copious accumulating large hail just north of Merced.

Winter Storm in KERN CTY MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 04:00:00 to 14-APR-12 14:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Flood in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 12:30:00 to 13-APR-12 16:30:00 (PST-8)
Location: FRESNO
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 25.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

Trained spotters and local media reported flooding near CSU Fresno, road 80 near Dinuba, downtown Fresno at the Second Street ramp.

High Wind in SE KERN CTY DESERT, CALIFORNIA
From 14-APR-12 09:15:00 to 14-APR-12 10:28:00 (PST-8)
Magnitude: 55.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Hail in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
From 11-APR-12 12:31:00 to 11-APR-12 12:45:00 (PST-8)
Location: RIVERDALE
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 100.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

A trained spotter reported 1 inch hail near Riverdale.

Hail in MERCED, CALIFORNIA
From 12-APR-12 17:05:00 to 12-APR-12 17:30:00 (PST-8)
Location: ATWATER
Magnitude: 1.75 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 100.00K
Reported by: Trained Spotter

A trained spotter reported golf ball (1.75 inches) sized hail in Atwater.  The hail accumulated several inches deep on area roads.

Flood in TULARE, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 14:48:00 to 13-APR-12 16:48:00 (PST-8)
Location: DINUBA
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

The California Highway Patrol reported flooding on Road 80 at Avenue 392.

Flood in KERN, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 15:33:00 to 13-APR-12 16:33:00 (PST-8)
Location: LOST HILLS
Flood cause: Heavy Rain
Property damage: 15.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

The highway patrol reported flooding on State Road 46 at Lost Hills Road.

Hail in TULARE, CALIFORNIA
From 11-APR-12 13:20:00 to 11-APR-12 14:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: TRAVER
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 10.00M
Reported by: NWS Employee

NWS Meteorologist tracked a wide swath of accumulating large hail across northern Tulare County.  Agricultural damages from these recent storms was in the millions.

High Wind in SE KERN CTY DESERT, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 23:35:00 to 14-APR-12 00:35:00 (PST-8)
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Hail in KINGS, CALIFORNIA
From 11-APR-12 13:03:00 to 11-APR-12 13:15:00 (PST-8)
Location: HANFORD
Magnitude: 1.00 
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 150.00K
Reported by: NWS Employee

NWS Employee indicated a swath of accumulating large hail across the Hanford area.

Funnel Cloud in KINGS, CALIFORNIA
From 11-APR-12 12:00:00 to 11-APR-12 12:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: HANFORD
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Law Enforcement

County Sheriff's office reported a funnel cloud near Grangeville Road on the north side of Hanford.

Funnel Cloud in MERCED, CALIFORNIA
From 12-APR-12 16:35:00 to 12-APR-12 16:45:00 (PST-8)
Location: ATWATER
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

The public reported three different funnel clouds in the Atwater area.

Funnel Cloud in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
From 13-APR-12 13:48:00 to 13-APR-12 13:48:00 (PST-8)
Location: KERMAN
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public