Flood — Watauga, North Carolina

2024-12-29 · near Shulls Mills, Watauga, North Carolina

Event narrative

A temporary bridge was washed out and destroyed as Winkler Creek rose out of its banks at Rainbow Mountain Road. Additionally, unimproved parcels of property in the vicinity also experienced flooding.

Wider weather episode

A negatively-tilted trough passed from the western Gulf coast region early on the 29th northeast to the lower Ohio River Valley late in the day. This track resulted in strong southeasterly wind flow along the central Appalachians, carrying deep Atlantic moisture across the Blue Ridge on a 40 to 45 knot low level jet. Precipitable water values reached as high as 1.3 inches, which is around the 99th percentile for late December. A storm total rainfall amount of 1.5 to 2 inches was observed across the headwaters of the Watauga River, with locally higher amounts. Runoff from this rainfall caused brief and minor flooding of the Watauga River in Watauga County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.1814, -81.6858)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1222840. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.