Thunderstorms produced heavy rain in south central Utah, creating multiple flash floods in Kane County over a three-day period.
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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.
The episode as NWS SLC wrote it up.
Thunderstorms produced heavy rain in south central Utah, creating multiple flash floods in Kane County over a three-day period.
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 Aug 16, 9:34 AM MST, 5 hours 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 1034 AM MDT SAT AUG 16 2008 .SYNOPSIS...A COOL UPPER LOW OVER NORTHWEST COLORADO TODAY WILL MOVE SLOWLY EAST TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE AREA WILL BRING A WARMING TREND SUNDAY INTO NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE INTO THE SURFACE TROF ACROSS SRN UT PLUS SOME WEAK JET SUPPORT PRODUCED CONVECTION ACROSS THE SOUTH OVERNIGHT. THE UPPER SUPPORT IS IS PULLING AWAY AND THE SURFACE TROF IS WEAKENING BUT ENOUGH MOISTURE WILL LINGER FOR ISOLATED TERRAIN BASED CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING OVER THE FAR SOUTH. THE SURFACE GRADIENT ACROSS THE NORTH HAS ALSO WEAKENED AND THE CANYON WINDS HAVE DECREASED. THERE WILL CONTINUE TO BE WEAK SUPPORT FOR EAST WINDS ACROSS NORTHERN UT INTO SUN SO EXPECT ENHANCED DRAINAGE WINDS OUT OF THE CANYONS AGAIN TONIGHT BUT NOT AS STRONG AS LAST NIGHT. THE UPSTREAM RIDGE MOVES OVER THE AREA SUN AND THE AIRMASS WARMS. MOISTURE INCREASES A LITTLE MON AS THE RIDGE SHIFTS EAST BUT PROBABLY ONLY ENOUGH FOR HIGH BASED CONVECTION. SOUTHWEST WINDS INCREASE TOWARDS MID WEEK AS A FAIRLY DEEP TROF IN THE GULF OF ALASKA STARTS TO MOVE INTO THE PACNW STATES. THIS ALSO DRIES THE AREA OUT. THE TROF RIDES THRU THE NRN ROCKIES WED/THU AND PUSHES A COLD FRONT INTO NRN UT. CURRENT PACKAGE IN GOOD SHAPE AND NO UPDATES PLANNED. && .AVIATION...WINDS AT THE SLC TERMINAL SHOULD BE PREDOMINANTLY FROM THE WEST TO NORTHWEST THROUGH THE REST OF THE DAY TODAY...BUT THERE IS A 10 PERCENT CHANCE OF PERIODS OF MORE EASTERLY WINDS THROUGH 19Z. EXPECT TYPICAL SOUTHEAST DRAINAGE WINDS TONIGHT AFTER 03-04Z. OTHERWISE...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM SATURDAY FOR UTZ001-UTZ002. WY...NONE. && WILENSKY/CHENG FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE)
The Cedar City radar (KICX), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:19 UTC.
3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rain caused large scale flash flooding along the Paria River drainage, including the Wawheap and Big Water areas.
Additional flooding in the lower Paria River drainage closed the Cottonwood Canyon Road.
Back country rangers reported a flash flood on a road along Last Chance Creek, which flows into Lake Powell.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, August 2008
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: 133453, 133519, 133517.