The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks.

The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Follow her on Twitter at email her at Donate to Report for America here.Garfield County and Kane County, Utah, United Statesģ7☃5′N 112☁1′W / 37.583°N 112.183°W / 37.583 -112.183īryce Canyon National Park ( / b r aɪ s/) is an American national park located in southwestern Utah. Sophie Will is the National Parks Reporter for The Spectrum & Daily News through the Report for America initiative by The GroundTruth Project. No other information or photos were immediately available. More on Lake Powell: Lake Powell curtails houseboats, starts extending boat ramps While closures aren't clear yet, the Bullfrog Basin are in Glen Canyon received 1.15 inches yesterday, a lot for this time of year, Kruse said. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Lake Powell Immediately after, Zion closed Kolob Canyons road because of mud and rockslides. on Wednesday, Zion closed the popular hike The Narrows and other slot canyons due to a flash flood warning.Ībout 24 hours later, the park reinforced that closure saying the Virgin River was moving at over 150 cubic feet per second. The Scenic Drive was closed at Grand Wash around the same time due to impassable mud on the road around the same time. Outside the parks, most of the state has been hit with torrential rains this week, with many cities like Cedar City recovering from Wednesday night's floods as well. In fact, because of the historic drought, low soil moisture levels are making mudslides more likely, 'where literally that soil is not able to absorb that moisture in that timeframe,' Zion spokesperson Amanda Rowland said in a July press conference. More on drought: How historic drought, cyanobacteria, tourism affects Utah's national parks, wildlife While these monsoonal rains can reduce Utah's need for desperate water measures during a historic drought, they're not making a dent in the drought conditions overall, Kruse said. Major floods in late June in Zion National Park damaged roads and buildings, and the rest of the Mighty Five have been slammed with flash flood warnings and torrential rains on a regular basis. 'Which is a lot for Bullfrog, their normal for this month is like 0.32,' NWS Lead Meteorologist Christine Kruse said.įlooding has been an issue all summer. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which contains drought-stricken Lake Powell, received 1.15 inches near Bullfrog Basin Wednesday, a rarity for that area. 'We recorded 3.51' of precipitation in the form of rain and hail in the last 48 hours - a record 2-day August precipitation total for the park,' Bryce Canyon Superintendent Jum Ireland said in an email.

Wednesday's floods are one of the first times this season that all five national parks have experienced flash flooding at the same time.Ĭombined, the Mighty Five received 5.61 inches of rain through Wednesday ranging from 0.24 inches of rain in Capitol Reef National Park to 1.7 inches in Bryce Canyon National Park, according to the National Weather Service, though meteorologists did not yet have rates of rain per hour as of Thursday morning. View Gallery: PHOTOS: Mighty Five's record August flash floodĪll five of Utah's national parks experienced heavy rains and flash floods Wednesday, damaging trails and kicking up debris.

Bryce canyon national park utah weather