Heavy rain, thunderstorms in Fresno in June? What gives? Meteorologist breaks it down
Heavy rain poured down in parts of Fresno late Wednesday as the weird weather for the region considering it’s June continued into the night.
The rain, which occurred mostly in the northwest Fresno area, was moving in a north to northwest direction and expected to last through 11 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.
In addition, strong thunderstorms were brewing just southeast of Madera.
“Fresno had a 20% chance of it raining, and well, it’s raining hard,” NWS meteorologist David Spector said. “It’s not going to last very long.
“But there was going to be a brief, heavy downpour and outflow of wind.”
Wednesday morning started with strong winds blowing so powerfully that a few large branches and some smaller trees were knocked over.
A power outage also occurred in parts of the city, impacting almost 6,000 customers.
Dust clouds kicked up and managed to spread throughout the downtown area.
Rain also occurred in the morning in some parts of Fresno and a thunderstorm lit up the skies above Reedley with a lightning show.
Why is rain and thunder and lightning occurred in the central San Joaquin Valley in June when the month usually has been nothing but heat, heat and more heat?
Spector said the cause of the “random weather” for Fresno was surge of moisture that came from a tropical storm force off southern Mexico’s Pacific Coast. The tropical storm had been projected to become a hurricane.
“That’s what supplied the fuel for the thunderstorm” Spector said.
Spector added that there have been some years when the Fresno area has received rain in June.
But because there’s been a drought dating almost 10 years, rain in June has seemed like a distant memory for many while Wednesday’s rainy weather caught many surprised who hadn’t been regularly following the weather forecast.
“Rain in June has happened quite often,” Spector said. “It’s just in recent years, it hasn’t happened. So people have forgotten.”
Despite the strong winds and brief stretch of heavy rains, the typical hot June weather for Fresno was expected to continue the remainder of the week. Temperatures could reach as high as 107 degrees this weekend in Fresno, according to the Weather Channel forecast.
