Flood — Belknap, New Hampshire

2023-12-18 to 2023-12-21 · near Barnstead, Belknap, New Hampshire

Event narrative

The Suncook River reached moderate flood stage on December 18th following heavy rain and snowmelt. The basin average rainfall was around 4 inches, causing the Suncook River to rise to 12.1 feet at the USGS river gage in North Chichester. Several properties were surrounded by floodwaters along Riverside Park Drive and Bachelder Road. Water was up to properties on Jasper Drive in Allenstown. Floodwaters encroached onto low lying properties of Kings Towne Park in Epsom.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure began organizing in the Gulf of Mexico on the 16th, setting record low sea level pressures as it traversed the Southeast through the 17th. Strong high pressure over the North Atlantic created a deep southeasterly flow that drew warm air into New England ahead of the approaching storm. By the time precipitation arrived on the evening of the 17th, temperatures were warm enough for rain everywhere except the highest peaks. Early on the 18th a shortwave trough was approaching from the Great Lakes and led to rapid deepening of the low pressure as it paralleled the Eastern Seaboard. Even as the center of the storm remained near Chesapeake Bay on the morning of the 18th, a strong low level jet had developed and winds began to gust in excess of 50 mph well inland from the coast. Damaging wind gusts continued into the afternoon. Thousands of customers lost power due to falling limbs and downed wires. The anomalously warm air mass also led to intense rainfall rates beginning on the evening of the 17th, which continued into the 18th. Upsloping winds also enhanced precipitation along the southeast facing slopes of the White Mountains. Widespread 3 to 4 inches of rain fell, with isolated pockets of 6 to 8 inches. This fell on top of snow that was ripe from previous rainfall about a week earlier. An additional 2 to 3 inches of snow water equivalent was likely added to rainfall runoff. Numerous road washouts and road closures occurred due to flash flooding and fast responding small stream and tributaries. Localized moderate to major flooding occurred along mainstem rivers with the majority of New Hampshire Rivers outside of the mountains only reaching minor flood stage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.2614, -71.3630)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1150882. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.