Name: Flash Flood in Utah, May 13, 2001
Start: 2001-05-13T13:00
End: 2001-05-13T13:30
Location: Utah

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Salt Lake City, UT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 13, 8:55 AM MST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 13, 8:55 AM MST, 4 hours 5 minutes before

UTAH AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
955 AM MDT SUN MAY 13 2001

SYNOPSIS...A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW WILL BE OVER THE STATE TODAY AND
TONIGHT. THE FLOW WILL BECOME MORE SOUTHWESTERLY AND A LITTLE DRIER
ON MONDAY.

DISCUSSION...UPPER LOW HAS MOVED ONSHORE OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
AND WILL CONTINUE NORTHEAST TOWARDS MMH BY 00Z. SOUTHERLY FLOW ON
EAST SIDE OF LOW TRANSPORTING MOISTURE ACROSS UTAH. AT THE SURFACE A
LOW IS OVER IDAHO WITH A TROUGH EXTENDING SOUTH OVER THE GREAT SALT
LAKE BASIN. HIGH PRESSURE IS DEVELOPING UNDER THE BAND OF CLOUDS AND
SHOWERS OVER SOUTHERN UTAH. THIS DEVELOPING SURFACE HIGH...WHICH
THE MESOETA MOVES NORTH ALONG THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS TODAY...WILL
SUPPORT SOUTH WINDS ACROSS THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE STATE. I
REMOVED THE SOUTH WINDS IN THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS AND FAR SOUTHERN
ZONES FOR TODAY BASED ON THIS MESOSCALE FEATURE. ALSO ADJUSTED
DIXIES CLOUD COVER A BIT FOR TODAY. CLOUDS ARE DECREASING THERE NOW
BUT WILL FILL IN AGAIN LATER. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HAS INCREASED
ACROSS SOUTHWEST UTAH AND SOUTHERN NEVADA AND AIRMASS BECOMING
UNSTABLE IN AREA OF GOOD INSOLATION. ETA CAPE PEAKS AROUND 800 J/KG
SOUTHWEST UTAH AT 21Z. ALSO JET ON EAST SIDE OF LOW WILL BE ALONG
THE NEVADA BORDER EARLY TO MID-AFTERNOON. 850-400 MB SHEAR FROM THE
40 KM ETA GRIDS 40+ KNOTS FOR A PERIOD EARLY THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE
WEST-CENTRAL DESERTS. WILL HAVE TO WATCH FOR ORGANIZED CELLS IN THIS
AREA WITH A THREAT OF HAIL. NO FURTHER UPDATES PLANNED.

SLC 463  CDC +62  GIBSON

.SLC...NONE.

The radar

The Cedar City radar (KICX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:57 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Washington

When: May 13, 1:00 PM MST to 1:30 PM MST
Where: Washington County, Zion National Park
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: PARK/FOREST SERVICE
Coordinates: 37.280, -113.505 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 10-year-old boy was killed and his 5-year-old brother had to be rescued as a burst of heavy rain at Zion National Park caused flash flooding. The boy was hiking with his family when the storm came through. The boy and his brother ran ahead and reached a part of the trail where water was flowing across. They attempted to cross in the narrow canyon but were swept away. The older boy was swept over the ledge falling more than 100 feet, while the younger boy was able to hold onto a tree before being rescued.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Flash Flood, Washington	2001-05-13	10	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Utah in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Utah, May 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5275206.