Flash Flood — Columbia, Washington

2022-06-02 · near Whetstone, Columbia, Washington

Event narrative

A trained spotter 6 miles east of Dayton, WA reported that 2.5 inches of rainfall had fallen in less than an hour. This then led to runoff depositing mud and rock from an adjacent farm field, approximately 1 foot deep in some places, across Patit road. The flowing watr and mud also displaced a tractor in the field. Crops were also reported damaged from the heavy rain.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level low pressure system off the coast of British Columbia placed the region under a moist southwest flow aloft. At the lower levels, this flow, already saturated soils, and increasing instability in the afternoon allowed developing storms to produce high rainfall rates. Areas of Columbia county, WA saw these high rain rates, resulting in flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.3300, -117.8600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1042946. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.