Flash Flood — Garfield, Utah

2022-09-21 · near Cannonville, Garfield, Utah

Event narrative

Multiple thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rainfall moved over Bryce Canyon National Park during the late evening hours. Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor 3-hour rainfall estimates showed widespread amounts of 1 to 2 inches, and the Bryce Canyon Airport ASOS recorded nearly 1.5 inches of rain over the span of 3:30 pm MST to 4:30 pm MST. Many trails sustained damage, with some leading to extended trail closures. The Queen's Garden trail suffered a few debris flows with unstable footing and two retaining wall failures. The Peekaboo Loop suffered numerous debris flows and points of trail surface erosion. The Bryce Point Peekaboo Connecting Trail suffered numerous rockfalls and debris flows, two retaining wall failures, and deep incisions of around 1 foot into the trail surface. The Fairyland Loop trail suffered deep incisions of around 1 foot into the trail surface. The Navajo Loop trail had a tree downed on the Two Bridges side. The Wall Street side of the Navajo Loop Trail suffered further debris flows and complete trail erosion in some sections, resulting in an extended trail closure.

Wider weather episode

A deep upper level low coming ashore along the U.S. West Coast resulted in a combination of strong forcing, instability, and available moisture over the Salt Lake City forecast area. This event prompted an uncommon issuance of a Severe Thunderstorm Watch (number 541 of the year). Scattered strong wind gusts occurred, as did multiple instances of Flash Flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.4554, -112.1902)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1056211. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.