A strong cold front moved into central California on Thursday, December 11 and continued to impact the region through December 13. This system brought strong southerly winds across the Tehachapi mountains and into the San Joaquin Valley from the afternoon of the 11th to the morning of the 12th. During this time, winds gusted 70 to 90 mph across the mountains of Kern county with one gust of 105 mph reported at Grapevine Peak RAWS. In the San Joaquin Valley, winds gusted 40 to 60 mph, with the strongest winds occurring across Merced county south through western Fresno county and throughout Kern county. There was widespread minor wind damage across Kern county, including trees toppled, power poles down, and fences blown over. One report included approximately 2000 almond trees down northwest of Bakersfield, with a valued loss of $0.2M-0.5M. It was reported that 9,000 people lost power in the Bakersfield area during the storm.
This storm system also brought heavy rain and snow beginning late on December 11 and continuing through December 13. Rainfall amounts were generally 1 to 3 inches across the San Joaquin Valley, the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada, the Sierra Foothills, and the mountains of Kern county. Even the desert portion of Kern county received a tenth of an inch to as much as 1.5 inches of rain. The heavy rain resulted in widespread nuisance flooding, notably in Gustine, the Fresno area, and the Bakersfield area. A portion of Highway 99 (Taft Highway underpass) was closed for a period due to flooding during the morning of Friday, December 12. While a Flood Watch was issued for the Rim Fire burn scar, no impacts were noted.
Snow was reported as low as 3600 feet where up to 2 inches of snow fell. Otherwise snow amounts ranged from about 8 inches to as much as 20 inches in the Sierra Nevada. NOHRSC analysis showed average snow water equivalent (SWE) in the Sierra increased from 0.4 to 1.1 and area covered by snow was up to 55.7% from 16.3%. A few inches of snow also fell across parts of Kern county.
As the storm departed, there areas of dense fog developed in the San Joaquin Valley, becoming widespread on December 13 and 14. Another storm system moved into the region on Monday, December 15. Although much weaker than the previous storm, it produced gusty winds in the Kern county mountains and light snow in the Sierra Nevada.

Strong Wind in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 14:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 02:00:00 (PST-8)
Magnitude: 48.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 500.00K
Reported by: Official NWS Observations

Strong south winds developed ahead of a strong cold front on December 11. This resulted in sustained winds of 20 to 35 mph with widespread gusts over 35 mph. Strongest gusts were recorded and the Bakersfield ASOS with a gust to 55 mph at 1140 pm on December 11. There were numerous reports of trees down in and around Bakersfield, McFarland, and Shafter. In Shafter, around 2000 almond trees were downed.  Power was also lost in parts of Bakersfield due to downed power lines.

Heavy Rain in MADERA, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 21:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: MADERA
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches reported across the San Joaquin Valley portion Madera county with up to 2.5 inches in the foothills. Nuisance flooding of roadways.

Heavy Rain in FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 21:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: (FAT) AIR TERMINAL
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches across the San Joaquin Valley portion of Fresno county with up to 2.5 inches in the foothills. Nuisance roadway flooding reported in Fresno and Clovis.

Heavy Rain in TULARE, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 21:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: TULARE
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches across the San Joaquin Valley portion of Tulare county with up to 2.6 inches in the foothills. Nuisance roadway flooding reported near the city of Tulare.

Heavy Rain in KINGS, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 21:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: HANFORD
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches across the Kings county. Nuisance roadway flooding.

Heavy Rain in KERN, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 23:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: (BFL)MEADOWS FIELD AP
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches were reported across Kern County. Roadway flooding was reported along Interstate 5 at Copus Road. Flooding was also reported along Highway 99 west of Lamont, closing the highway for a few hours. Along highway 178, the heavy rain resulted in debris flow from a recent burn area and closed the east bound lane of the highway at the mouth of the Kern Canyon, east of Bakersfield.

Heavy Snow in S SIERRA MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 10:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 16:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Snowfall amounts of 7 to 14 inches in 24 hours.

Heavy Snow in TULARE CTY MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 10:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Snowfall amounts of 8 to 20 inches in 24 hours.

High Wind in KERN CTY MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 15-DEC-14 16:45:00 to 15-DEC-14 17:00:00 (PST-8)
Magnitude: 53.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 00:55:00 to 14-DEC-14 10:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in E CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 00:55:00 to 14-DEC-14 10:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in SW S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 02:03:00 to 14-DEC-14 10:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in SE S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 02:03:00 to 14-DEC-14 10:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in W CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 22:00:00 to 15-DEC-14 02:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in E CENTRAL S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 22:00:00 to 15-DEC-14 02:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in SW S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 18:50:00 to 15-DEC-14 08:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Dense Fog in SE S.J. VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 14-DEC-14 19:45:00 to 15-DEC-14 03:00:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Heavy Rain in MERCED, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 18:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 18:00:00 (PST-8)
Location: GUSTINE
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Widespread reports of 1 to 2 inches of rain across Merced county with locally 2.5 inches of rain near Gustine. Reports of nuisance flooding included one lane closed on Highway 165 near Livingston, roadway flooding approximately 1.5 feet deep 6 mile southwest of Gustine and minor street flooding in the town of Gustine.

High Wind in KERN CTY MTNS, CALIFORNIA
From 11-DEC-14 15:00:00 to 12-DEC-14 03:00:00 (PST-8)
Magnitude: 91.00 MG
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Strong south winds occurred ahead of a strong cold front on December 11, 2014. The strongest winds occurred at the Grapevine Peak RAWS where sustained winds were measured 50 to 76 mph with frequent gusts over 75 mph. Peak wind gust was 105 mph. Elsewhere across the mountains of Kern County, sustained winds were generally 30 to 45 mph with gusts of 50 to 60 mph with a few places gusting over 70 mph.