BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — We had a bit of an eventful week of weather. The 5th heatwave of the summer officially began on Sunday and lasted through Thursday for 5 days of triple-digits in Bakersfield.
Right in the middle of that a brief but potent, monsoonal push sent showers and thunderstorms across a wide part of California. Thousands of lightning strikes ignited numerous wildfires, and some surprise downpours caught people working through puddles.
However, it can be safe to say that the weather highlight of the week for us across Kern County was the wind-blast dust-storm that whipped into the South Valley on Tuesday afternoon, knocking down trees, disrupting power, reducing visibility and even inducing Valley Fever anxiety. One really notable occurrence was the fact that Bakersfield registered its highest temperature of the summer, by far, during the midst of that windy-dust blast: 108 degrees.
So how did that occur? Here’s a “Monday-Morning Quarterback” play-by-play atmospheric analysis from Tuesday:…