What a wake up call!
The south San Joaquin Valley was shaken awake by a powerful thunderstorm in the 4 a.m. hour as an isolated cell fueled by monsoonal moisture charged through from the base of the Grapevine, taking direct aim at the heart of Bakersfield.
The cell brought several lightning strikes and loud rumbling thunder along with brief heavy downpours. That cell was able to gain strength because we have finally seen a break from the excessive heat, as we dropped to 83 degrees this morning, the perfect warm temperature for a moist and unstable airmass to spawn a thunderstorm.
But it's an isolated event and the streets are already drying out downtown. Interestingly enough, the official rain gauge at Meadows Field didn't record anything measurable, so this day will go down in the record as a dry one.
As the sun comes up we're heading into another very hot day, which will also be humid, so expect a muggy high of 105 this afternoon which will evaporate any more showers trying to come into the valley. The clouds rolling by today are helping to drop us to that 105, which is way down from yesterday's record breaking 112, the hottest day of 2017 so far.
Check out the forecast for the chance of mountain thunderstorms today here.
