Record rain
Jul. 3rd, 2014 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glacier_kittyFAIRBANKS—If you thought June was wet, welcome to July.
The record-setting deluge that has nearly drowned the central and eastern Interior continued in force Tuesday night and Wednesday as rain continued to pour down in amounts not seen in Fairbanks since the historic flood of 1967.
Nearly 2 inches of rain — 1.92 officially — was recorded at the Fairbanks International Airport on Tuesday, shattering the daily record of 0.65 of an inch in 1935 and nearly surpassing the average rainfall for the entire month — 2.16 inches — in one day.
An additional 1.39 inches of rain had fallen at the airport as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, making the two-day rainfall total of 3.31 inches for Tuesday and Wednesday the third-wettest on record in 102 years of weather records in Fairbanks, meteorologist Rick Thoman at the National Weather Service in Fairbanks said. It marked only the fourth time in history with back-to-back days with more than 1 inch of rain at the airport, he said.
"To get that much rain in 36 hours in Fairbanks is a big deal," hydrologist Ed Plumb at the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks said.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings, watches or advisories for practically every stream and river in the Interior as the result of the rain.
"It's a mess," summed up Plumb.
Interior residents from Denali Park to Fairbanks to Tok were already struggling to keep their heads above water following the wettest June on record in 102 years in Fairbanks. A record 3.56 inches of rain was recorded at the airport in June, nearly all of it in the final two weeks of the month in the form of three major downpours that have flooded rivers, washed out roads and saturated the landscape.
The latest round of rain began tapering off late Wednesday morning and had ended by late afternoon, but rivers were on the rise once again and more minor flooding was expected.
There was already water flowing over the road at 36.9 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road in the Chena River State Recreation Area and most the places that usually flood during high water events in the recreation area were experiencing minor flooding similar to what occurred two weeks ago, Plumb said.
The flood gates at Moose Creek Dam in the Chena Flood Control Project in North Pole were lowered just before 4 p.m. Wednesday for the second time in two weeks to restrict water flow into the lower Chena River and help prevent flooding below the dam.
It marks the 22nd time the flood gates have been lowered since the flood control project was built in 1979.
"The last time we did this twice in the season was 2011," flood control project manager Tim Feavel said. "We had one event in July and one in September."
There were also reports of water over the bank on both the Chatanika and Little Chena rivers, Plumb said.
The weather service downgraded flood warnings issued for the Salcha and Goodpaster rivers southeast of Fairbanks to flood advisories because not as much rain fell over those areas as had been expected overnight Tuesday, he said. It was still too early to tell if the Tanana River would rise above flood stage, he said.
"We're still trying to figure that one out," he said. "Since the Salcha didn't get as much rain as we thought not as much water is going to be coming down toward Fairbanks."
The best chance for flooding in the Tanana River is downstream of Fairbanks due to heavy rain in the Alaska Range, Plumb said.
"All the rivers draining the Alaska Range between the Parks and Richardson highways is all going to feed into the Tanana," he said. "There's a lot of water coming down the Nenana River ... we could see some minor flooding in Nenana."
With the Tanana River as high as it is, there is also a chance the Tanana could back up into the Chena River and cause groundwater flooding in basements and crawl spaces at homes on the lower Chena River and in the Rosie Creek subdivision, Plumb said.
With 6.57 inches of rain at the airport and counting, the period from June 18 to Wednesday is the wettest 15-day period on record in Fairbanks, surpassing the 6.17 inches that fell Aug. 1-15 in 1967 and caused the worst flooding in the city's history, Thoman said.
The latest low-pressure system to move into the eastern Interior on Monday has brought the most rain of the three.
The 24-hour precipitation total ending at 10 a.m. Wednesday was 2.81 inches, second only to the 3.42 inches of rain that fell on Aug. 12 in 1967, the year a flood inundated downtown Fairbanks with the worst flooding in the city's history.
As of early Wednesday morning, this July already ranked as the 15th wettest on record after just two days.
The latest storm dumped considerably more rain in Fairbanks than forecasters were predicting. On Tuesday, forecasters were calling for the heaviest rain to fall east of Fairbanks in the upper Chena and Salcha rivers, the same area that had received the most rain in the previous two storms.
However, the system moved farther west than expected and dumped the heaviest rain over Fairbanks.
"There was still plenty of rain in the upper (Chena) basin but not as much as fell in town," Thoman said. "The bull's-eye was right over the top of Fairbanks."
The latest rainfall was reminiscent of July 26-27 in 2003 when 3.43 inches of rain fell in Fairbanks over a two-day period, Thoman said.
"This is very similar to July 2003 but July 2003 wasn't preceded by two other rain events that saturated the ground," he said.
All the rain was beginning to take a toll on roads in the Interior, too.
In addition to a plethora of potholes that have popped up on area roads as a result of the rain, the Alaska Department of Transportation in Fairbanks was dealing with other rain-related problems such as erosion.
The Steese Highway was closed for about nine hours on Wednesday at 116 Mile while DOT workers repaired a bridge abutment that was washing out at Mammoth Creek, DOT spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said.
Another section of the road at 16 Mile was being undercut by what is usually a small creek that flows next to the road but was swollen by the rainfall. The same thing was happening at the turnout for the Fox water spring on the Elliott Highway, Bailey said.
DOT crews were hauling in rip-rap to reinforce the road banks and permanent repairs will be made when the water recedes, Bailey said.
There were also reports of rocks falling down steep sections along the Richardson Highway near Salcha due to erosion from the rain, she said.
DOT crews have been repairing potholes for the past two weeks but have had a hard time keeping up with the rain, Bailey said.
"There's potholes popping up everywhere," she said. "There's not a lot we can do when it's still raining. We put some fill in there and it gets knocked out pretty quickly."
While the last 15 days have been the wettest on record in Fairbanks, the current event still does not match the one that caused the 1967 flood, Thoman said. In that event, much more rain fell in the upper Chena River valley east of Fairbanks than did this time around and more rain fell in a shorter period of time, he said.
"We didn't get the super amounts in the uplands like we did in 1967," Thoman said.
The good news for Interior residents is that it looks like the rain is coming to an end and the weather pattern responsible for it had broken up. Warmer, sunnier weather is forecast for the weekend, with high temperatures around 80 expected for the Fourth of July weekend.
One benefit of all the rain that has fallen in the last two weeks is that definitely erased any kind of wildfire danger, Thoman said.
"There's no smoke; I'm happy," he said. "That's my criteria for a good summer — no smoke. I'll take the rain over the smoke all the time."
Wow..that's a LOT of water. Goldstream Valley is super flooded..the creek looks like a river now. It's so nice to see the sun today finally! Good to see at the beginning of a 3 day weekend!
That would be awful :/
DAY 1: Name your favorite website dedicated to food
DAY 2: Favorite fast food chain
DAY 3: Favorite fancy restaurant
DAY 4: Favorite pizza place
DAY 5: What can you cook the best?
DAY 6: What is the best thing your mom makes? (can substitute in another relative if needed)
DAY 7: Best home cooked meal you’ve ever eaten that wasn’t made in your home
DAY 8: Favorite ice cream flavor
DAY 9: Favorite type of sandwich
DAY 10: List your top 3 desserts
DAY 11: Favorite beverage
DAY 12: The best dish of your culture(s)
DAY 13: Favorite type of meat (or meat substitute)
DAY 14: The most foul thing you have ever eaten
DAY 15: Favorite food show
DAY 16: Favorite Asian dish
DAY 17: Favorite Italian dish
DAY 18: Favorite Mexican dish
DAY 19: Favorite grocery store
DAY 20: Favorite fruit
DAY 21: Favorite candy
DAY 22: Favorite soup
DAY 23: A song that reminds you of food
DAY 24: Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
DAY 25: Best vegetarian/vegan meal you’ve ever eaten?
DAY 26: What was the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten that was surprisingly good?
DAY 27: Favorite Bakery
DAY 28: A recipe you would want to taste
DAY 29: If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?
DAY 30: A picture of you at a restaurant
The record-setting deluge that has nearly drowned the central and eastern Interior continued in force Tuesday night and Wednesday as rain continued to pour down in amounts not seen in Fairbanks since the historic flood of 1967.
Nearly 2 inches of rain — 1.92 officially — was recorded at the Fairbanks International Airport on Tuesday, shattering the daily record of 0.65 of an inch in 1935 and nearly surpassing the average rainfall for the entire month — 2.16 inches — in one day.
An additional 1.39 inches of rain had fallen at the airport as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, making the two-day rainfall total of 3.31 inches for Tuesday and Wednesday the third-wettest on record in 102 years of weather records in Fairbanks, meteorologist Rick Thoman at the National Weather Service in Fairbanks said. It marked only the fourth time in history with back-to-back days with more than 1 inch of rain at the airport, he said.
"To get that much rain in 36 hours in Fairbanks is a big deal," hydrologist Ed Plumb at the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks said.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings, watches or advisories for practically every stream and river in the Interior as the result of the rain.
"It's a mess," summed up Plumb.
Interior residents from Denali Park to Fairbanks to Tok were already struggling to keep their heads above water following the wettest June on record in 102 years in Fairbanks. A record 3.56 inches of rain was recorded at the airport in June, nearly all of it in the final two weeks of the month in the form of three major downpours that have flooded rivers, washed out roads and saturated the landscape.
The latest round of rain began tapering off late Wednesday morning and had ended by late afternoon, but rivers were on the rise once again and more minor flooding was expected.
There was already water flowing over the road at 36.9 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road in the Chena River State Recreation Area and most the places that usually flood during high water events in the recreation area were experiencing minor flooding similar to what occurred two weeks ago, Plumb said.
The flood gates at Moose Creek Dam in the Chena Flood Control Project in North Pole were lowered just before 4 p.m. Wednesday for the second time in two weeks to restrict water flow into the lower Chena River and help prevent flooding below the dam.
It marks the 22nd time the flood gates have been lowered since the flood control project was built in 1979.
"The last time we did this twice in the season was 2011," flood control project manager Tim Feavel said. "We had one event in July and one in September."
There were also reports of water over the bank on both the Chatanika and Little Chena rivers, Plumb said.
The weather service downgraded flood warnings issued for the Salcha and Goodpaster rivers southeast of Fairbanks to flood advisories because not as much rain fell over those areas as had been expected overnight Tuesday, he said. It was still too early to tell if the Tanana River would rise above flood stage, he said.
"We're still trying to figure that one out," he said. "Since the Salcha didn't get as much rain as we thought not as much water is going to be coming down toward Fairbanks."
The best chance for flooding in the Tanana River is downstream of Fairbanks due to heavy rain in the Alaska Range, Plumb said.
"All the rivers draining the Alaska Range between the Parks and Richardson highways is all going to feed into the Tanana," he said. "There's a lot of water coming down the Nenana River ... we could see some minor flooding in Nenana."
With the Tanana River as high as it is, there is also a chance the Tanana could back up into the Chena River and cause groundwater flooding in basements and crawl spaces at homes on the lower Chena River and in the Rosie Creek subdivision, Plumb said.
With 6.57 inches of rain at the airport and counting, the period from June 18 to Wednesday is the wettest 15-day period on record in Fairbanks, surpassing the 6.17 inches that fell Aug. 1-15 in 1967 and caused the worst flooding in the city's history, Thoman said.
The latest low-pressure system to move into the eastern Interior on Monday has brought the most rain of the three.
The 24-hour precipitation total ending at 10 a.m. Wednesday was 2.81 inches, second only to the 3.42 inches of rain that fell on Aug. 12 in 1967, the year a flood inundated downtown Fairbanks with the worst flooding in the city's history.
As of early Wednesday morning, this July already ranked as the 15th wettest on record after just two days.
The latest storm dumped considerably more rain in Fairbanks than forecasters were predicting. On Tuesday, forecasters were calling for the heaviest rain to fall east of Fairbanks in the upper Chena and Salcha rivers, the same area that had received the most rain in the previous two storms.
However, the system moved farther west than expected and dumped the heaviest rain over Fairbanks.
"There was still plenty of rain in the upper (Chena) basin but not as much as fell in town," Thoman said. "The bull's-eye was right over the top of Fairbanks."
The latest rainfall was reminiscent of July 26-27 in 2003 when 3.43 inches of rain fell in Fairbanks over a two-day period, Thoman said.
"This is very similar to July 2003 but July 2003 wasn't preceded by two other rain events that saturated the ground," he said.
All the rain was beginning to take a toll on roads in the Interior, too.
In addition to a plethora of potholes that have popped up on area roads as a result of the rain, the Alaska Department of Transportation in Fairbanks was dealing with other rain-related problems such as erosion.
The Steese Highway was closed for about nine hours on Wednesday at 116 Mile while DOT workers repaired a bridge abutment that was washing out at Mammoth Creek, DOT spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said.
Another section of the road at 16 Mile was being undercut by what is usually a small creek that flows next to the road but was swollen by the rainfall. The same thing was happening at the turnout for the Fox water spring on the Elliott Highway, Bailey said.
DOT crews were hauling in rip-rap to reinforce the road banks and permanent repairs will be made when the water recedes, Bailey said.
There were also reports of rocks falling down steep sections along the Richardson Highway near Salcha due to erosion from the rain, she said.
DOT crews have been repairing potholes for the past two weeks but have had a hard time keeping up with the rain, Bailey said.
"There's potholes popping up everywhere," she said. "There's not a lot we can do when it's still raining. We put some fill in there and it gets knocked out pretty quickly."
While the last 15 days have been the wettest on record in Fairbanks, the current event still does not match the one that caused the 1967 flood, Thoman said. In that event, much more rain fell in the upper Chena River valley east of Fairbanks than did this time around and more rain fell in a shorter period of time, he said.
"We didn't get the super amounts in the uplands like we did in 1967," Thoman said.
The good news for Interior residents is that it looks like the rain is coming to an end and the weather pattern responsible for it had broken up. Warmer, sunnier weather is forecast for the weekend, with high temperatures around 80 expected for the Fourth of July weekend.
One benefit of all the rain that has fallen in the last two weeks is that definitely erased any kind of wildfire danger, Thoman said.
"There's no smoke; I'm happy," he said. "That's my criteria for a good summer — no smoke. I'll take the rain over the smoke all the time."
Wow..that's a LOT of water. Goldstream Valley is super flooded..the creek looks like a river now. It's so nice to see the sun today finally! Good to see at the beginning of a 3 day weekend!
That would be awful :/
DAY 2: Favorite fast food chain
DAY 3: Favorite fancy restaurant
DAY 4: Favorite pizza place
DAY 5: What can you cook the best?
DAY 6: What is the best thing your mom makes? (can substitute in another relative if needed)
DAY 7: Best home cooked meal you’ve ever eaten that wasn’t made in your home
DAY 8: Favorite ice cream flavor
DAY 9: Favorite type of sandwich
DAY 10: List your top 3 desserts
DAY 11: Favorite beverage
DAY 12: The best dish of your culture(s)
DAY 13: Favorite type of meat (or meat substitute)
DAY 14: The most foul thing you have ever eaten
DAY 15: Favorite food show
DAY 16: Favorite Asian dish
DAY 17: Favorite Italian dish
DAY 18: Favorite Mexican dish
DAY 19: Favorite grocery store
DAY 20: Favorite fruit
DAY 21: Favorite candy
DAY 22: Favorite soup
DAY 23: A song that reminds you of food
DAY 24: Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
DAY 25: Best vegetarian/vegan meal you’ve ever eaten?
DAY 26: What was the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten that was surprisingly good?
DAY 27: Favorite Bakery
DAY 28: A recipe you would want to taste
DAY 29: If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?
DAY 30: A picture of you at a restaurant
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Date: 2014-07-04 12:59 am (UTC)Hooray for our 3 day weekends too :P