A month's worth of rain washing out Labor Day weekend plans across the West
Widespread rain and thunderstorms will cause disruptions across part of the West, heightening the risk of flash flooding and travel disruptions throughout the extended holiday weekend.
Rain and thunderstorms will move over part of the West in the coming days, bringing the threat of flash flooding and travel disruptions.
Whether it was extreme heat or dangerous flash flooding, residents across portions of the West were not able to catch a break over meteorological summer -- and as the unofficial end to summer unfolds, yet another potentially hazardous event is expected to unfold.
A slow-moving storm rolling into the West has arrived for the extended Labor Day weekend, bringing a major shift in the weather for millions of people across the region.
A surge of moisture originating from the Pacific Ocean is beginning to fuel widespread rain and thunderstorms from the deserts of Arizona and Southern California northward through the Great Basin and Rockies. This can result in a heightened flash flooding risk, which can be further elevated as many Americans head outdoors during a time often considered to be the unofficial end of the summer season.
Vacationers who are planning a trip to one of the many national parks, including Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon and many others, should keep an eye on the sky and the AccuWeather App as conditions can change rapidly during the afternoon and evening hours as thunderstorms build.
As the weekend progresses, some cities across the West could end up experiencing a month's worth of rain in a matter of hours. September typically features dry conditions for many, so the historical average amount of rainfall throughout the month is typically low.
In Las Vegas, the historical average for rainfall in all of September is 0.32 of an inch. Sin City was slammed with 0.88 of an inch of rain on Friday, 275% of the historical average, with more than a dozen reports of flash flooding around the city. This broke the rainfall record for the date of 0.70 of an inch which had stood wind 1997. An additional 0.30 inches of rain fell Saturday afternoon with more flash flooding reported in the city. Near Fort Irwin, California, a nearby thunderstorm caused an 83-mph wind gust on Friday afternoon.
St. George, Utah; Redding and South Lake Tahoe, California; and Carson City, Nevada, were other locales that received between 1-3 times their historical average rainfall for all of September on the first day of the month.
The corridor of the heaviest rain and thunderstorms will gradually shift northward as the weekend progresses, and some locations, such as Salt Lake City, could face multiple days of flooding storms. In Salt Lake City, the historical average is 1.06 inches for September. This rainfall benchmark could also be exceeded over the Labor Day weekend.
By Sunday, the rain and thunderstorms are predicted to extend into parts of Idaho and Wyoming.
Many locales across the Southwest will dry out by Labor Day. Conversely, the central and northern Rockies can be in line for another round of drenching rainfall.
Looking beyond Labor Day weekend, dry conditions are expected across a majority of the West later next week.
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