How Yellowstone's Historic Flooding Will Impact Summer Visitors

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How Yellowstone's Historic Flooding Will Impact Summer Visitors

Emily Pennington - 1h ago

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© William Campbell/Getty

 

 

On the morning of June 13, the National Park Service announced that all entrances to Yellowstone would close due to heavy flooding, rockslides, and extremely hazardous conditions. The park has since evacuated over 10,000 visitors from its boundaries and released in a statement that the entire northern section will likely remain closed for a “substantial amount of time.”

“The impacts are most serious in the area between Gardiner and Cooke City,” said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly on a recent press call, adding that if the park continues to see warming temperatures and the right mixture of precipitation, it could see another flooding event in the next four or five days, due to forecasted rain and rapidly melting snowpack.

 

The current flooding was caused by a weather phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river,” which dumped 200 to 300 percent of normal moisture into the northern Rocky Mountains over the weekend. “Couple that warm rain falling on snow (there was a lot of late-season snow accumulation in April and May in Yellowstone) and you get not only lots of rain, but lots of snowmelt as well,” says Michael Poland, the Scientist-in-Charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This, mixed with June’s already swollen rivers of spring melt and the area’s waterlogged soil, has caused the Yellowstone River to flood well beyond record levels. “Extreme weather events are becoming more common as a consequence of climate change,” says Poland.

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The previous high flow record for the Yellowstone River, set in 1918, was 30,000 cubic feet per second (CFS). “Sunday night, we were at 51,000,” said Sholly.

The damage to the park’s Southern Loop, which is home to traveler favorites like Old Faithful, Norris Geyser Basin, and Yellowstone Lake, is far less substantial, though Sholly said there are several areas that are “potentially compromised” and need to be assessed before visitors can return.

“One thing that we definitely know is that half the park cannot support all of the visitation,” said Sholly. His team is currently looking at a wide range of solutions, including timed-entry reservation systems, for when the South Loop is safe to reopen.

 

“People should reevaluate summer travel to Yellowstone National Park,” says Wes Martel, Senior Wind River Conservation Associate at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. “There is long-term reconstruction that must take place and this will disrupt travel for some time.”

The Wyoming Office of Tourism and its partners are rapidly compiling resources for would-be travelers looking to reroute summer trips to Yellowstone. “Although Yellowstone National Park is currently closed, Wyoming gateway cities to the park and other towns and attractions around Wyoming remain open,” says Piper Singer Cunningham, Public Relations & Media Manager for the Wyoming Office of Tourism. She encourages visiting Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Bighorn National Forest, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, or one of Wyoming’s gorgeous state parks as an alternative.

 

Grand Teton, the closest national park in proximity to Yellowstone, is already feeling the strain of folks pivoting their plans away from the flooding. “It feels a lot like mid-July in terms of how busy it is,” says Chip Jenkins, Superintendent of Grand Teton National Park. “You should expect there will be many other people visiting, so plan accordingly. Also, there are many wonderful places and communities across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and across Wyoming that are well worth your visit.” Jenkins suggests checking out Wyoming’s breathtaking Bighorn Mountains as an alternative. Following “leave no trace” principles is also more important than ever as public lands experience crowding.

 

The small gateway towns that serve Yellowstone, particularly Gardiner and Cooke City, are going to be hit hard by the devastation, says Bill Berg, Park County Commissioner. For park lovers who are concerned about the future economic viability of these communities, he suggests proactively making a future reservation and exploring the surrounding areas, even though Yellowstone’s northern gates might remain shuttered.

He also shared a little advice for those wanting to help from afar. “Two words: gift certificates,” says Berg. “They put cash in the registers of those businesses and are our future promise of support.”

As for when the park plans to reopen the southern entrances to visitors? “I would say that we are shooting for a week or less to open the Southern Loop,” said Sholly. “But once again, that’s complicated, because that is contingent on us developing an appropriate visitor use plan.”