Yellowstone Closed After Rains, Flooding

Extreme rainfall washed out roads and bridges in and around Yellowstone National Park on Monday, forcing the closure of every entrance to the park and the evacuation of visitors cutoff within it. June is the busiest month for Yellowstone National Park and it is unknown how long the park will be closed. The Yellowstone River crested at 13.88 feet on Monday, two feet higher than the previous record set in 1918.

The increasing frequency and severity of extreme precipitation events is a clear signal of climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels. The flooding, also fed by snowpack melted by the “unprecedented” rain, may get even worse as it moves downstream toward more developed areas. One visitor told the AP, “we started seeing entire trees floating down the river, debris. Saw one crazy single kayaker coming down through, which was kind of insane.” (AP, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Axios, Washington Post $, CNN, NBC, The Hill, NBC, Newsweek; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)