Minnesota Flash Floods: 1970-2006

    This is a continuation of the book Sixteen Year Study on Minnesota Flash Floods. This document was published in January, 1988 by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Waters State Climatology Office and the University of Minnesota Soil Science Department. That study looked at sixteen years of flash floods from 1970 to 1985. In addition, flash floods from 1986 to 2006 are included below.
    The definition of a flash flood used here is the occurrence of 6 inches or more rainfall within a 24 hour period. The size of a flash flood is measured area in square miles over which a 4-inch or more rainfall occurs. The rationale for using this criteria is that a rainfall of six inches in a 24-hour period is near the 100-year return period in Minnesota and, second, a 4-inch and greater rainfall approximates the level at which the newspsper reports indicate increased erosion or other economic damages are associated. There are a total of 114 flash flood events documented here since 1970.

Flash Flood Events Year by Year
 1970  1971  1972  1973  1974
 1975  1976  1977  1978  1979
 1980  1981  1982  1983  1984
 1985  1986  1987  1988  1989
 1990  1991  1992  1993  1994
 1995  1996  1997  1998  1999
 2000  2001  2002  2003  2004
 2005  2006

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/flashflood.htm
Last modified: September 6, 2006