What struck me most in Yellowstone National Park is how unprepared most tourists were for what happened there

 I think it started to dawn on me how bad this situation was becoming in Yellowstone around Sunday Morning. The first clue was seeing camping bicyclists getting hypothermia and trying to exercise enough on their bicycles to stay warm. It was obvious that they were not okay and I hoped they might get medical attention soon because you could see they weren't assessing the situation correctly in the rain and were becoming hypothermic instead. I looked around at people in general and most people didn't seem to be assessing just where the weather was going. After all within a day or two it was expected to snow near Old Faithful Inn where we stayed for two nights. So, Sunday we left because we realized all this could be a disaster for Summer travelers not prepared for a snow storm.

But then it got much worse as we traveled in the heavy rain to Livingston where we had reservations along the Yellowstone River there. Then I realized that the river was moving towards flood stage and this was distressing to watch too. I realized as the sun went down around 10 pm there in our cabin alongside the river that it was likely that the river was going to break it's 1996 record for water flow in flooding. which was I believe around 31,000 cubic feet per second or minute (something like that).

So, between Sunday when we arrived and Tuesday morning when we left there it went from 26,000 cubic feet of water per second to 33,600 cubic feet per second which is above the 1996 record which was around 31,000 cubic feet per second. 

By This time we were worried about the people running the hotel and as we left the gentleman there said he had to leave and go check on his family because he was worried they were about to be flooded out (which likely happened) because I heard yesterday that 87,000 cubic feet per second was the final result of how bad it go or (about 3 times the 1996 record.

So, you can see why cars, and houses and buildings and trees were uprooted and sent down the river to destroys bridges and homes all along the way there in Montana. The Yellowstone river there eventually runs into the Missouri River by the way.

Note: I also read that at least 100 people had to be rescued from various situations in Yellowstone during these times as well. But, most people had to figure out how to survive all by themselves like we did along the way. So, my wife's skills and my living int he snow in Mt. Shasta and watching the weather carefully helped make sure we survived it all quite well in the end.

However, it's also important to say that my wife and I were some of the lucky ones in the end regarding the Yellowstone disaster.