111
Recorded events
1
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$14.9M
Property damage
Heavy Rain in Kern County, California: 111 recorded events between 1997 and 2024. The strongest on record measured 0.99. That places the county #22 nationally and #4 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Heavy Rain in Kern County, California: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for heavy rain in Kern County is the 2010s, when 56 of the county's 111 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Kern County archive, heavy rain makes up 13.3% of all recorded severe weather across 11 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #22 for this hazard and #4 within California, putting it in the 99.1 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Feb is the peak month for heavy rain in Kern County with 20 recorded events, while Jun is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 6, 1997 | LEBEC | 0 | 1 | 0 | $0 |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 15, 2024 | ONYX | 0 | $0 |
| Sep 12, 2022 | CABLE | 0 | $0 |
| Aug 5, 2022 | CANTIL | 0 | $0 |
| Aug 5, 2022 | TEHACHAPI | 0 | $0 |
| Aug 4, 2022 | TEHACHAPI | 0 | $0 |
| Aug 4, 2022 | CABLE | 0 | $0 |
| Aug 4, 2022 | BODFISH | 0 | $0 |
| Jul 31, 2022 | INYOKERN AIRPORT | 0 | $0 |
| Sep 9, 2021 | (EDW)EDWARDS AFB | 0 | $0 |
| Mar 10, 2020 | FRAZIER PARK | 0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Kern County
- Flood 325
- Flash Flood 134
- Thunderstorm Wind 57
- Debris Flow 51
- Hail 41
- Lightning 41
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
Rainfall of 0.49 inches fell at the APRS station in Taft. The rain contributed to the development of a sinkhole that was 200 feet long, 1 to 2 feet wide, and 1 to 4 feet deep. Five homes were evacuated as a precaution, but no damage was reported to any buildings or utilities.
Rainfall on 0.74 inches at Democrat RAWS with the heaviest rain between 0225 and 0625 PST. This resulted in several small rock slides being reported at 0647 PST. The rock slides resulted in Highway 178 being closed for several hours to allow crews to clear the road.
At 1612 PST, law enforcement notified the office that a large boulder was blocking the roadway and that there was localized flooding of water in Onyx. This was due to heavy rainfall earlier, though no evidence of what caused the boulder to fall into the roadway. The area is a canyon so the heavy rainfall may have caused it to fall.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many heavy rain events are on record in Kern County, California?
111 heavy rain events are recorded in Kern County between 1997 and 2024, causing 1 direct deaths.
What is the strongest heavy rain recorded in Kern County?
The strongest heavy rain on record in Kern County measured 0.99.
Where does the heavy rain data for Kern County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Heavy Rain in Kern County, California.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/california/kern-county/heavy-rain/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.