The line of heavy showers and thunderstorms that crossed the Carolinas last Thursday triggered flash flooding in Boone and several other locations in the mountains, but it was responsible for a staggering rainfall number in Charlotte, too.
I thank Sharon Foote of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services for this report.
Many of you know that Storm Water Services monitors automated gauges along a number of creeks in the area. Those gauges alert officials to possible flooding.
Foote passes along a measurement from the gauge at Mallard Creek Elementary School around 8:20 p.m. last Thursday, when the line of storms was crossing Charlotte.
During a span of about three minutes, according to the gauge, 0.45 inches of rain fell. That's nearly a half-inch of rain in three minutes. Or, converting it to an hourly rate, we're talking about 9 inches per hour.
Fortunately, the storms moved through quickly. There was one other three-minute period when about .15 of an inch fell, but for the most part, rainfall rates were modest. The total from the storm was a bit more than 1 inch.
The generally-recognized world record for most rainfall in one minute is 1.5 inches, on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe in 1970.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
An amazing downpour in north Charlotte
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4 comments:
Wow! When I grow up, I want to be a water gauge monitor!
Fail. When I grow up, I want to be an engineer at stormwater services who makes sure that your neighbor upstream doesn't pave over his entire lot increasing runoff downstream to the point that it floods your yard and damages your property. And monitoring rain gauges is a very small part of that.
Fail. When I grow up, I want to be a lot paver!
Win! Lot pavers can make alot of money if they pave enough lots!
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