NWS Salt Lake City Support for the Brian Head Fire
Burn Scar Debris Flows (83)
Darren Van Cleave, NOAA/NWS/WFO
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, UT
Glen Merrill, NOAA/NWS/WFO
Salt Lake City
Brian Mcinerney, NOAA/NWS/WFO
Salt Lake City
Al Martinelli, NOAA/NWS/WFO
Salt Lake City
Abstract:
In June of 2017, the Brian
Head fire was ignited in southern Utah near the small resort town of Brianhead.
This fire quickly grew to become one of the largest timber fires in Utah
history, with supportive fuels in place due to rampant dead timber from
beetle-kill in previous years. The fire burned very hot in many locations, leaving
charred soils ripe for quick discharge of rainfall runoff. Combined with steep
terrain on the northwestern flank of the burn scar this lead to frequent flash
floods and debris flows during July and August 2017, which caused frequent
washouts of the main highway connecting the town of Brianhead, Utah to the
nearby interstate. Additionally, these events caused extensive damage
downstream to homes and public utilities in the town of Parowan, Utah.
The National Weather Service
(NWS) Weather Forecast Office (WFO) in Salt Lake City provided extensive
support to public safety and transportation officials with an interest in flash
flooding and debris flows from the Brian Head fire burn scar. Within a month of
the fire, WFO Salt Lake dispatched staff to place a remote weather station on a
particularly-sensitive drainage. This station was configured to send alerts to
WFO Salt Lake forecasters when key rainfall thresholds were met, and also to
transportation officials with the Utah Department of Transportation. In 2018,
further research from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Landslide
Hazards Program lead to more robust understanding of flash-flood-prone areas
and specific rainfall sensitivities. WFO Salt Lake was able to incorporate
modeling from USGS into local forecast software to better predict potential
flash flood threat areas. This poster will detail the operational support WFO
Salt Lake has provided, as well as cutting-edge research-to-operations efforts
in conjunction with the USGS.