Lake Powell Memorial Day Weekend Starts With a Swoosh

It is Friday. It is Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, one of our “Big 3” here at Lake Powell. Trucks and Motohomes pulling boats have been heading this way for the past 2 days. Last night something else headed this way….. rain.

We don’t get much rain here in the high desert – about 6 to 8 inches a year and most of that in July and August with the Monsoon flow.

There will be a lot of folks who will remember today in the Lake Powell area. Floods down main streets in Page, Waterfalls off the canyon walls, Mud Slides on Highway 98 (it is closed currently) and mud on Highway 89 by the Glen Canyon Dam. Traffic, at some points today, has been at a standstill.

My son, David, is a Park Ranger and a photographer. As this has been unfolding today he’s been shooting both video and stills. I’m excited to see what he brings home tonight and I’ll post some samples.

What is odd is this is not a normal weather flow for this time of year, but according the National Weather Service is more typical of a July-August Monsoon, coming up from the South, and slow, slow moving.

From NOAA
1203 PM MDT FRI MAY 22 2009
…SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION DURING MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND…
MOISTURE…MORE TYPICAL OF THE MONSOON SEASON OF JULY AND AUGUST…WILL SPREAD NORTH ACROSS THE STATE DURING THE UPCOMINGMEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND…WITH THE GREATEST MOISTURE EXPECTED OVER
SOUTHERN AND EASTERN UTAH. THIS WILL LEAD TO AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND. HEAVY RAINFALL IS A POSSIBILITY WITH THE STORMS IN THE AREAS WITH THE GREATEST
MOISTURE…AND THIS COULD POSSIBLY LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING WITHIN FLASH FLOOD PRONE AREAS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN UTAH.
THOSE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES…PARTICULARLY AREAS PRONE TO FLASH FLOODING SUCH AS SLICKROCK AND SLOT CANYONS WITHIN ZION AND CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARKS…THE SAN RAFAEL SWELL AND THE GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT…AS WELL AS BOATERS ON LAKE POWELL SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF
THUNDERSTORMS…AND CONTINUE TO MONITOR FUTURE FORECASTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT…
HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)

Did I mention we don’t get much rain here…..

Flash Flood Video:
http://www.lakepowellrealty.net/2008/09/15/flash-flood/

From National Park Service WebCam – Thanks Dennis H for sending it to me!

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