Zion National Park in Utah Ravaged by Flash Floods Brought by Monsoon Thunderstorms

The annual monsoon season in North America brought an hour-long rainfall at Zion National Park in southwestern Utah, Tuesday afternoon, causing flash flood in the area.

Monsoon thunderstorms brought an episode of heavy rain within a week across the Desert Southwest, forcing roads and state route 9 to be closed until further notice due to mudflows. According to a statement from the National Park officials, there were fortunately no injured or missing persons reported from the conducted technical search and rescue operation.

At this time, though not closed, the national park operation was modified due to the flooding, and possibly more of it to come according to weather forecasts.

Monsoon Continues Within the Week and Beyond

Adam Douty, the Senior Meteorologist of AccuWeather explained that thunderstorm activity across the Southwest should continue to develop within the week and beyond, with moisture drawn from the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of California to Southwest region.

The North American monsoon is generally stirred up by high humidity, bringing moist air northward originally from the Gulf of Mexico and the tropical Pacific Ocean. Common occurrences such as flashfloods, concentrated downpours, dust storms and lightnings may happen for about three months, mostly during the summer. Most of the time, the monsoon season is in full swing but distributed to certain locations on daily basis, with downpour mostly sporadic.

With the Northwest region currently experiencing extreme heat wave, the Southwest will be spared from drought season within the week, although the monsoon season came a little later than expected which supposedly should have begun on June 15 and ends on Sept. 30.

According to the United States Drought Monitor., many cities across the southwestern United States are still currently suffering from severe drought, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Tucson, Arizona, and El Paso, Texas.

Drought Relief in the Southwest

United States is currently in grips of severe drought with nearly 80% in Western US and over 25% of other region is facing severe heat and drought. However, temperatures have dropped over the Southwest for the past few days wet grounds brought by the North American monsoon.

"A combination of a stalled-out front and an influx of moisture from the broad circulation of Enrique along with a push of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of California this week will result in widespread shower and thunderstorm activity across the Southwest," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said in a statement.

Thunderstorms will be mostly prevalent and spread during the afternoon, with possible occurrence of gusty winds and dust storms. Residents are warned to observe precaution for dangerous fast-flowing water as intense rain could cause streams and visibility can quickly drop nearly to zero.

While the thunderstorm can bring beneficial rain across the Southwest, lightnings associated by it can still strike and spark up wildfires. Dry lightning can be more dangerous than it seems as it can often bring strong wind that quickly fans flames and most likely to cause wildland fires.