Storm Data

Many of you have asked me about the rain, rain totals, etc. Here are the totals for Toquerville, for the storm just ended:

Thursday, December 16th, trace of rain
Friday, December 17th, .12 hundredths of an inch
Saturday, December 18th, .47 hundredths of an inch
Sunday, December 19th, .63 hundredths of an inch
Monday, December 20th, 1.49 inches
Tuesday, December 21st, 1.19 inches
Wednesday, December 22nd, .61 hundredths of an inch
Thursday, December 23rd, .08 hundredths of an inch
Storm Total = 4.59 inches of rain
Total rain for the year in Toquerville, so far, is 18.56 inches, well above double the normal amount. An extremely wet winter and spring, plus this big December storm has created an exceptional water year for Toquerville.

Although the rain was never very hard, it just kept on raining, hour after hour, day after day. In addition, the temperatures warmed up and snow also began melting in the New Harmony/Pine Valley drainage area, which added to the flow of Ash Creek. Curiously, Cedar City did not get snow, but rain (for the most part) out of this storm, which is unusual for Cedar City this time of year.

Ash Creek rose to dangerous levels on Tuesday, Ash Creek was splashing over onto the grass of the park, causing flooding at Shangrila, and water began to go over the bank at the Voorhees property. The city organized crews to fill and deliver sandbags to several locations.

On Wednesday morning, even though the rain had lessened, Ash Creek reached its peak and was running onto Toquerville Park, so sandbags were laid down to keep the water out. Several residents along the creek became nervous, but the creek began to recede and the danger was past.

Also on Tuesday morning the water began going over the spillway at Ash Creek Reservoir, the reservoir having filled completely in five days. As of Thursday night, the creek is still running high, but is not in danger of breaking over its banks.

According to Washington County officials, more rain fell in this storm than fell in the big storm of 2005, but flood control measures taken after the 2005 flood, kept most of the water in the river channels and avoided serious flooding.