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SALT LAKE CITY — The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch in Salt Lake and Cache counties through Tuesday morning due to predicted rainfall early in the week.
KSL Meteorologist Dan Pope said he anticipates the flood watch will be upgraded to a flood warning by Monday evening.
About a half inch of rain is expected to fall in lower elevation areas during the storm which is expected to last from late Sunday through Tuesday morning. Up to 1.5 inches of rain could fall on snow pack in the mountains, according to a statement by the National Weather Service.
We could have water come from places that we're just not expecting.
–Dan Pope
The Little Bear River and the Blacksmith Fork River in Cache County have the potential to swell, along with Emigration Creek in Salt Lake County and the lower Weber River south of Echo Reservoir. The South Fork of the Ogden River near Huntsville will see a short spike into flood levels Monday evening, Pope said, while the levels of the bulging lower Weber river aren't expected to decrease until Tuesday night.
Small drainage routes such as streams and dry channels in those areas also have the possibility of flooding, Pope said.
"We could have water come from places that we're just not expecting," he said.
Already-saturated soil along burn scars in Salt Lake County could possibly break way in some areas, he said, as well as other drenched soil on other mountainsides.
"It's just hard to predict exactly where," Pope said.
The National Weather Service encourages parents to keep children and pets away from any waterways through Tuesday as flows will be "cold and swift."
Pope said any flooding that does occur as a result of this week's storms will subside relatively quickly. He recommended residents prepare now for later storms.
"This is the appetizer before the meal," he said. "If you have had flooding at any time in the last 30 years, you should be sandbagging."
Email:mfarmer@ksl.com
