Flood — Rockingham, North Carolina

2024-01-28 to 2024-01-29 · near Bakers Xrds, Rockingham, North Carolina

Event narrative

The Dan River at Wentworth, NC (WENN7) crested somewhere near a stage of 20.51 feet (18,600 cfs) at 5:00 pm EST on 1/10/24, rising above the minor flood stage of 19.0 feet. This is the second crest above flood stage at this gage during January 2024, and was around a 2-year ARI (50% AEP) per USGS StreamStats. No damage was reported.

Wider weather episode

An upper level low pressure system passed up the Ohio River Valley on the 28th, drawing an associated occluded front across the central Appalachians. Strong southerly windflow ahead of the front brought precipitable water values ranging from 1.1 to nearly 1.4 inches over northwest North Carolina, which is between 2 and 3 standard deviations above normal per NWS climatology data. This resulted in storm-total rainfall amounts across middle-Dan River basin of between 2 and 3 inches, falling across soils that were not frozen, but were moderately moist from past rainfall events. Runoff from this rainfall caused the Dan River at Wentworth to rise above minor flood stage for the second time in January 2024.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.4094, -79.8279)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1159868. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.