jman
07-12-2018, 08:09 AM
I was going to post this last night, but got distracted by a TV show...
Anyway, Zion got hit with 3 inches of rain in 3 hours yesterday! It caused the Virgin River to surge from the normal 30 FCS to over 5400+ CFS.
It's back down to 47 cfs and will keep dropping back to about 30 cfs.
90044
And here is a radar map that hit the area:
90045
From the radar, it looks like the entire NP got hit with a substantial amount of rain!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180712/de7d2a26d2f45d6df43eec0c67ed7183.gif
So what the means is plan for canyons full of water, sand, and debris! Be smart with that information. Especially when it hits this hard, things wil get tossed and turned compared to a slow rain.
Zion NP announced on their FB Page this information at 8am on 7/12/18:
"The recent storm that hit Zion packed quite a bunch. We received almost three inches of rain in three hours last night, July 12th.
The Virgin River did experience a flash flood yesterday evening and was running at 5,410 CFS. This is a huge change compared to the 30.9 CFS that morning at 6:4am. Flash Floods are very serious, and visitors should always be aware of the flash flood potential during their visit to Zion. Today's flash flood potential is probable.
...
Zion National Park has been experiencing several rock and debris slides on the switchbacks below the tunnel. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway has been closed indefinitely between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance. Road crews will assess the damage before removing the debris, making repairs, and reopening roadways.
The Scenic Drive is open to shuttle stop number 6, the Grotto. Visitors may still take our free canyon shuttle to this stop, but may NOT walk further up the Scenic Drive towards more stops."
In a nutshell, driving through the Tunnel, or driving from the East Entrance back to the Visitor Center isn't possible currently. And the shuttle stop is NOT going to Weeping Rock or the Temple of Sinawava, for now. I imagine that will change this upcoming week.
The road conditions I imagine will take two weeks or toso before they deem it safe again.
So that means Keyhole, Pinecreek, Echo, and Spry will be unaccessible during that time. But maybe it will open up sooner.
It’s a safe bet that all of the other Zion canyons have been topped off, and hopefully other canyoneers will post followups on Candition.com, here, and CC about further updates. My guess is also that the Subway flashed and probably experienced a sand dump inside (which will be unfortunate since it takes forever to scour out, again.).
But any local stories? Were any of you there while this happened? and sweet pics to share?
Update 7/12/18, 9am: “The West Rim trail from the Grotto is closed due to a large trail washout in Refrigerator Canyon. This means no access to or through hiking on the West Rim or to Angels Lansing from the Grotto. Hikers can still access the Rim section of the trail from Lava Point.
Anyway, Zion got hit with 3 inches of rain in 3 hours yesterday! It caused the Virgin River to surge from the normal 30 FCS to over 5400+ CFS.
It's back down to 47 cfs and will keep dropping back to about 30 cfs.
90044
And here is a radar map that hit the area:
90045
From the radar, it looks like the entire NP got hit with a substantial amount of rain!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180712/de7d2a26d2f45d6df43eec0c67ed7183.gif
So what the means is plan for canyons full of water, sand, and debris! Be smart with that information. Especially when it hits this hard, things wil get tossed and turned compared to a slow rain.
Zion NP announced on their FB Page this information at 8am on 7/12/18:
"The recent storm that hit Zion packed quite a bunch. We received almost three inches of rain in three hours last night, July 12th.
The Virgin River did experience a flash flood yesterday evening and was running at 5,410 CFS. This is a huge change compared to the 30.9 CFS that morning at 6:4am. Flash Floods are very serious, and visitors should always be aware of the flash flood potential during their visit to Zion. Today's flash flood potential is probable.
...
Zion National Park has been experiencing several rock and debris slides on the switchbacks below the tunnel. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway has been closed indefinitely between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance. Road crews will assess the damage before removing the debris, making repairs, and reopening roadways.
The Scenic Drive is open to shuttle stop number 6, the Grotto. Visitors may still take our free canyon shuttle to this stop, but may NOT walk further up the Scenic Drive towards more stops."
In a nutshell, driving through the Tunnel, or driving from the East Entrance back to the Visitor Center isn't possible currently. And the shuttle stop is NOT going to Weeping Rock or the Temple of Sinawava, for now. I imagine that will change this upcoming week.
The road conditions I imagine will take two weeks or toso before they deem it safe again.
So that means Keyhole, Pinecreek, Echo, and Spry will be unaccessible during that time. But maybe it will open up sooner.
It’s a safe bet that all of the other Zion canyons have been topped off, and hopefully other canyoneers will post followups on Candition.com, here, and CC about further updates. My guess is also that the Subway flashed and probably experienced a sand dump inside (which will be unfortunate since it takes forever to scour out, again.).
But any local stories? Were any of you there while this happened? and sweet pics to share?
Update 7/12/18, 9am: “The West Rim trail from the Grotto is closed due to a large trail washout in Refrigerator Canyon. This means no access to or through hiking on the West Rim or to Angels Lansing from the Grotto. Hikers can still access the Rim section of the trail from Lava Point.