More amazing stuff I learned today about the Yellowstone flooding

 This is what blew my mind today!

I learned a few things new about the Yellowstone flooding. The interesting thing is the National Weather service says there will be more flooding this summer in Yellowstone because of aberrant weather patterns. What appears to be happening is that some of the rain that should be going to California south of Lake Tahoe is going to Nevada and north. But, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and California below about Lake Tahoe are sort of screwed water wise this summer and fall because of it.

So, this is what I couldn't believe happened. 

When we arrived at Yosemite Valley Lodge to our rented cabin for two days we thought we had avoided the flooding that was starting then. We mostly didn't want to get caught in the snow coming down at Old Faithful Lodge because with all the tourists not necessarily with 4 wheel drives or all wheel drives we knew it likely would be a minor disaster all by itself with so many people and so few accommodations.

So, we moved to Yellowstone Valley Lodge next to the Yellowstone river. When we got there the river seems higher than any markings on the walls of the river. I checked the river online to check more about the water levels. I saw dead trees and brush coming down. This was as the sun set Sunday Night. Monday morning the levels were even higher and I started ot get worried even for ourselves in case the riverbanks collapsed where our cabin for viewing the river was. We had a veranda with wood outdoor chairs from which to observe the rive. It rained all Sunday and Monday nights. I checked online the rain gauge and flooding levels and was surprised Tuesday morning that it had broken the 1996 levels when I got up. The record in 1996 of all time was 31,000 cubic feet per minute or second (not sure which).

Then as we left for Glacier National park on Tuesday morning we saw that much of Livingston on the river side of the highway was flooded. The main road north through town at that time was still open because it hadn't undermined the roadway yet at that time.

We drove north and west on Highway 90 which is a freeway towards Glacier National park in the rain. It rained most of the way to East Glacier park Village. Then it rained for two days there while we stayed mostly in our room because of the weather.

Now we are in Canada and it's raining again here on Thursday at our hotel.

But, here's the thing. When we left Livingston it was at 33,600 which had broken the all time record for flooding. So, we thought this was the peak!

But, that wasn't the peak. The peak was 87,000! cubic feet of water per second or minute (depending upon which measure they were using!

I cannot even imagine because this is close to 3 times what we witnessed that had already flooded out houses we saw to our right going into Livingston, Montana.

So, this turned out to be about 3 times worse than we realized which dropped homes into the river in Gardiner and ran water through parts of the town there and the whole Yellowstone river changed it's banks too.

Now Northern Yellowstone park is closed for the season (until the fall at least) because they expect more flooding and the road out of the park through Gardiner is likely gone for at least the summer.

So, if you are coming to Yellowstone make sure your campsite or hotel room is accessible by car or truck now this summer. Make sure it hasn't closed down for the summer because of everything happening in Yellowstone National Park.