Sunday, August 4, 2019

Saturday's Cottonwoods Deluge

In late July, the last two mountain stages of the Tour de France were shortened due to hail and mudslides associated with severe convective storms of the western Alps.  As we discussed in a blog post following stage 19 (see Weather Hazards and Bike Racing), there is a very real possibility that the Tour of Utah could be affected by a similar storm.

Indeed, it is a good thing that the Tour of Utah wasn't being held in the Cottonwoods yesterday afternoon when severe thunderstorms dumped their goods in the central Wasatch, producing what the National Weather Service reported as two-inch per hour precipitation rates.  


Hail was also observed and covered the highways in both canyons per the National Weather Service.

Alta today showed plenty of evidence of heavy rainfall and associated runoff with a shallow layer of mud and rocks covering the highways and parking lots in places.  It must have been a scary experience for anyone caught out hiking, climbing, or biking during this storm. 



Let us hope we don't have a repeat for the Tour of Utah.  

1 comment:

  1. I was on top of Lone Peak when I looked out west and saw the storm headed our way. I made it out of the alpine right when it hit and had quite the experience with the heavy precip and constant electric activity. Some climbers were stuck on route and had even more of an experience! One was struck by lightning according to a facebook climbing group. Scary stuff.

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