Flood — Watauga, North Carolina

2024-04-11 · near Rominger, Watauga, North Carolina

Event narrative

The Watauga River near Sugar Grove, NC (SGWN7), crested at 7.50 feet (3,620 cfs) at 8:30 pm EST on the 11th. Flood stage is 6.0 feet. This event is well-under a 2-year event (50% Annual Exceedance Probability) per USGS StreamStats. No damage was reported during this event.

Wider weather episode

A deep upper level trough was observed situated along the Mississippi River Valley during the morning of April 11th, with deep south-southwesterly windflow ahead of the trough carrying moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northward along the Appalachian chain. Southeasterly windflow in the low levels of the atmosphere carried this moisture up the Blue Ridge escarpment, with the orographic lift enhancing rainfall totals across the headwaters of the Watauga River in Watauga and Avery Counties. Rain began falling between 3:00 am and 4:00 am EDT across northwest North Carolina and persisted through the day, with rainfall rates varying 0.10 inch/hour and 0.70 inch/hour. Rainfall totals for the day across the headwaters of the Watauga River ranged generally between 3.5 and 4.5 inches, with totals locally as high as 5 inches.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.2437, -81.8318)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1162725. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.