NOTN- Water has begun spilling from Suicide Basin, prompting a flood warning for the Mendenhall Lake and River.
The National Weather Service confirmed the release began at about 9:30 a.m. after coordinating with science partners monitoring the basin.
“As of this morning, we noticed that the totals for the basin were starting to drop a lot more, very exponentially. So we looked into the Mendenhall Lake as well as the laser gage, and we sent someone up there to ground truth it in a helicopter.” Said the National Weather Service, “As of the past hour, we have decided to call it and send out the warning for the glacial release.”
Suicide Basin, a side basin of the Mendenhall Glacier, has produced annual glacial lake outburst floods since 2011, including a record event on Aug. 6, 2024. The most recent release before this week occurred Oct. 20, 2024.
“Now that it’s releasing, it’s going to release a lot more right off the bat, and then kind of level out more as it gets less full.” Said a National Weather Service representative, “The crest height is expected to be around Wednesday afternoon, and because of all the rainfall that we’ve had recently, we are expecting to have either near record levels or record levels.”
Residents in flood-prone areas are urged to follow the latest advisories from local officials and the National Weather Service.
