Flash floods on the rise in Utah
The big picture: Nationally, flash flood warnings have set a new record this year, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports.
By the numbers: By rolling five-year averages, Utah's flash flood count rose from 14 in 2000 to almost 45 in 2021, per Utah health officials.
Warnings are also trending up, with 14 so far this year from Salt Lake's National Weather Service office, which covers most of Utah, according to a tracker at Iowa State University's Iowa Environmental Mesonet.
That's more than the entire year in 1986, the first year for which data was available — and Utah's monsoon season is just beginning.
Context: Climate change"is supercharging the water cycle," sparking heavier precipitation extremes and related flood risks, according to Climate Central, a climate research group.
The intrigue: The state historically has the nation's least intense rainstorms, per federal weather data — but in southern Utah, a little water can create deadly floods.
How it works: "Bare sandstone and scarce vegetation do little to soak up rain. Instead, muddy waterfalls cascade over the cliffs," Capitol Reef National Park explains in a warning to visitors.
With just a half-inch of rain in an hour, "dry washes can fill with rushing water, several feet deep, carrying large rocks, logs and debris."
Flashback: In 2015, a single storm caused flash floods that killed 21 people in southern Utah — the state's deadliest storm since federal weather analysts began collecting data in 1950.
Seven canyoneers died in Zion National Park, while 13 people — three women and 10 children — drowned when a van was swept away near Hildale. A Hurricane motorist died in floods from the same storm.
The latest: The Washington Post reported last week that the development of a tool aiming to predict how rising temperatures will impact extreme rainfall frequency had been delayed amid a U.S. Commerce Department review.
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