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Hi Channel 5 Weather:
I would like to know what the most intense rain storm on record is for North Salt Lake City in the first 15 minutes. My specific location is between the Legacy Highway and the Jordan River on the south side of Center Street.
I need to calc my storm drain pipe sizes and North Salt Lake wants me to use a 10year 24hour rain storm chart. This chart shows that in the first 15 minutes 2.5inches of water will fall, but in reality I don't believe I have ever heard of 2.5inches of water falling in 15 minutes. (I would believe that in Texas or in Alabama, but not here.)
Can you confirm?
Thanks, Richard M.
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Good thinking on this one, 2.5 inches of rain in 15 minutes is unlikely in SLC. The greatest precipitation in 15 minutes in SLC 1.26 inches of rain. While we can't get exact records for your location, this is a pretty good idea of an extreme weather event for Utah. Actually the most rain in 24 hours in SLC was 2.41 inches in April of 1957.
In places that have more severe weather and larger storms like in the south you can find excessive rain totals like 2.5 inches in 15 minutes. It's still rare though and doesn't happen all that often. You can can get 2.5 inches of rain in a day pretty easily in the midwest during a day with severe weather.
Best of luck with your project.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
