Debris Flow — Elko, Nevada

2022-08-12 to 2022-08-13 · near Lamoille, Elko, Nevada

Event narrative

On the evening of August 12th, Lamoille Canyon received some brief periods of heavy rainfall. The BURN2 site located at the Thomas Canyon Campground in Lamoille Canyon recorded 0.34 inches that fell over a 15-minute span from 2100 to 2115LT. The area continued to get some more rain and ended up with 0.49 inches in 1 hour from 2100 to 2200 LT. Shortly thereafter a debris flow was reported in the area by a hydrologist from the USGS. Some water, mud, silt, and small rocks washed over the road depositing the silt and mud on the roadway. The hydrologist reiterated that 0.25 inches for 15 minutes or 1 inch/hr seem to be a good threshold for debris flows to occur.

Wider weather episode

Abundant Thunderstorms with storm motions opposite of cell synoptic flow allowed for slow-moving, training storms. This led to areas of flooding and debris flows.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6521, -115.4099)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1040044. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.