The final week of July saw even more flash flooding across Utah. The afternoons of July 26 and 27 were especially destructive, with record-breaking rainfall and widespread flooding.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The final week of July saw even more flash flooding across Utah. The afternoons of July 26 and 27 were especially destructive, with record-breaking rainfall and widespread flooding. An isolated severe thunderstorm was also recorded during this period of time.
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 Jul 26, 2:52 PM MST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 352 PM MDT FRI JUL 26 2013 .SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. A DRYING TREND WILL FOLLOW FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...THE MID LEVEL RIDGE WHICH HAS REMAINED ACROSS NORTHWEST AZ/SOUTHWEST UT OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS IS BEGINNING TO SLOWLY MOVE EAST THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IS ALLOWING MOISTURE TO ROTATE NORTHWARD ACROSS NV...WITH CONVECTION ACROSS EAST CENTRAL NV BEGINNING TO SPREAD INTO WEST CENTRAL UT GENERALLY WEST OF THE RIDGE AXIS. THIS TREND SHOULD CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING...AND HAVE MAINTAINED ISOLATED POPS ACROSS WESTERN UT. ANTICIPATE THIS MOISTURE WILL NOT REACH THE WASATCH FRONT UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT GIVEN RIDGE POSITION...AND HAVE REMOVED EVENING WEATHER FROM THE WASATCH FRONT AND POINTS EAST. FURTHER SOUTH WHERE MOISTURE IS A BIT MORE PLENTIFUL SCATTERED SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUE ACROSS SOUTHWEST UT. THESE STORMS WILL LIKELY PERSIST INTO THE EVENING HOURS. A SHORTWAVE ROTATING NORTH THROUGH SOUTHERN CA/SOUTHWEST AZ WILL CONTINUE ITS NORTHERLY TREK ACROSS CENTRAL UT DURING THE DAY SATURDAY. MOISTURE WILL INCREASE SUBSTANTIALLY WITH THIS FEATURE AS PW VALUES SURGE OVER AN INCH ACROSS MOST LOCATIONS. THIS MOISTURE SURGE SHOULD ALLOW FOR ABUNDANT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...HOWEVER EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER AND POOR MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES WILL LIKELY LIMIT THE STRENGTH OF THE CONVECTION...ALTHOUGH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE. TO THE NORTH OF THE TRACK OF THIS WAVE MOISTURE AND FORCING WILL BE MORE LIMITED...SO IF EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER PREVAILS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY REMAIN MORE ISOLATED FROM ROUGHLY I-80 NORTHWARD. IN THE WAKE OF THIS WAVE MOISTURE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA...AND WITH BETTER SURFACE HEATING SUNDAY...WILL LIKELY ALLOW FOR STRONGER CONVECTION DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL. A MID LEVEL TROUGH IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST EARLY NEXT WEEK...RESULTING IN A SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW DOWNSTREAM ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR A DRYING TREND FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE WEEK...WITH THIS DRIER AIR LIKELY REMAINING IN PLACE THROUGH THE DURATION OF THE WEEK. && .AVIATION...SURFACE WINDS AT THE SLC TERMINAL ARE EXPECTED TO SWITCH BACK TO THE SOUTHEAST BETWEEN 03Z AND 05Z. THERE IS A 20 PERCENT CHANCE THAT SHOWERS WILL IMPACT THE TERMINAL BETWEEN 03Z AND 12Z TONIGHT...WITH GUSTY ERRATIC WINDS BEING THE MOST LIKELY IMPACT. THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT CHANCE OF CEILINGS BELOW 7000FT...BUT THE GREATER CHANCE FOR THAT WILL COME AFTER 12Z AS MORE CLOUDS AND SHOWERS MOVE OVER THE AREA. && .FIRE WEATHER..HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER THE STATE...WITH SOME MONSOONAL MOISTURE MOVING BACK INTO SOUTHWEST UTAH. THE DEEP MOISTURE WILL BECOME WELL ESTABLISHED THROUGH THE WEEKEND...RESULTING IN GOOD COVERAGE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WETTING RAINS. A DRIER AIRMASS WILL MOVE BACK IN EARLY NEXT WEEK AS HIGH PRESSURE REBUILDS. && .SLC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... UT...NONE. WY...NONE. && SEAMAN/SCHOENING/TRAPHAGAN FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) FOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY/GENERAL/AFD_FAQS.PHP (ALL LOWER CASE)
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT 609 AM MDT FRI JUL 26 2013 UTZ001>016-019>021-517-518-WYZ021-271215- CACHE VALLEY/UTAH PORTION-NORTHERN WASATCH FRONT- SALT LAKE AND TOOELE VALLEYS-SOUTHERN WASATCH FRONT- GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS-WASATCH MOUNTAIN VALLEYS- WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80- WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS-WASATCH PLATEAU/BOOK CLIFFS- WESTERN UINTA BASIN-CASTLE COUNTRY-SAN RAFAEL SWELL- SANPETE/SEVIER VALLEYS-WEST CENTRAL UTAH-SOUTHWEST UTAH- UTAHS DIXIE AND ZION NATIONAL PARK-SOUTH CENTRAL UTAH- GLEN CANYON RECREATION AREA/LAKE POWELL-CENTRAL MOUNTAINS- SOUTHERN MOUNTAINS-SOUTHWEST WYOMING- 609 AM MDT FRI JUL 26 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS OF UTAH AND SOUTHWEST WYOMING. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MOISTURE WILL BEGIN TO SPREAD BACK NORTH INTO THE OUTLOOK AREA TODAY. THIS WILL KEEP A THREAT OF LOCAL HEAVY RAIN FROM THUNDERSTORMS GOING OVER SOUTHWEST UTAH AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT. HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE CLOSE TO TRIPLE DIGIT READINGS FOR PORTIONS OF THE WASATCH FRONT AND IN THE SOUTHEASTERN VALLEYS. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE AREA FROM THE SOUTH AND WEST TONIGHT REACHING ALL BUT THE FAR NORTHEAST PORTION BY EARLY SATURDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY MOISTURE WILL COVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON BRINGING A THREAT OF LOCAL HEAVY RAIN TO ALL PORTIONS. THIS THREAT WILL PERSIST ON SUNDAY THEN DRIER AIR STARTS TO SPREAD IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST ON MONDAY. THIS DRYING TREND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MID WEEK WITH A DECREASING THREAT OF AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM NOAA/S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE VISIT... HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/SALTLAKECITY (ALL LOWER CASE) FOR INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL TRAVEL IMPACTS VISIT... HTTP://WWW.UDOTTRAFFIC.UTAH.GOV/ROADWEATHERFORECAST.ASPX
The Cedar City radar (KICX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:52 UTC.
12 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Flash flooding occurred in Hildale, with three feet of water on Canyon Street, making the road impassable.
Washington City once again experienced flash flooding, and again it was the Coral Canyon subdivision that was hit the hardest. At least 6 basements experienced flooding, with as much as six inches of water flowing into those homes. Homes in a nearby trailer park also experienced some exterior damage, as flood waters flowed along the outside of the homes, but no interior flooding occurred.
Flash flooding occurred in the town of Hurricane after a heavy thunderstorm. Water was running through town along Gould Wash, and at least 10 homes were damaged due to flood waters.
Flash flooding occurred along North Creek, with the downstream river gauge at Virgin rising to 626 cfs.
Flash flooding occurred along the Paria River, with the gauge along the Paria River at Kanab rising from 0 cfs to 2648 cfs in two hours.
Flash flooding was reported along the Wahweap Creek and Warm Creek drainages.
Significant flash flooding occurred in Cedar City and Enoch, following record rainfall. The Cedar City ASOS recorded 2.25 inches of precipitation for the day, breaking the previous one-day record precipitation for the site. In Cedar City, 30 to 40 homes, as well as one church, experienced flooding, primarily in basements. In addition, heavy rain caused the roof of the Metalcraft Technologies building to collapse, though no one was in the building at the time. In Enoch, two homes and one public works building had significant flooding resulting in damage. Despite all this property damage, no injuries were reported due to the flood waters.
Widespread flash flooding occurred across Zion National Park. Canyons that were flooded included Heath, Pine, Spry, and Keyhole. The Emerald Pools were also flooded, and the Scenic Road had three areas where sand covered the road, requiring plows to remove the sand.
Flash flooding was reported along Sulphur Creek, including through parts of Capitol Reef National Park.
The Diddle Knoll sensor in the Dugway Proving Ground mesonet recorded a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
Flash flooding was reported in Zion National Park, including at the popular canyoneering route called The Subway.
Major flash flooding was reported in the town of Hildale. In addition, water was flowing across State Route 59, moving six to eight inch rocks onto the road between mileposts 4 and 5.
Flash flooding occurred along the Fort Pearce Wash, with the gauge near St. George peaking at 4146 cfs.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Utah in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Utah, July 2013
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: 469861, 471797, 471821, 469885, 469889, 469890, 471799, 469881, 469638, 469318, 469641, 469644, 469646.