Moderate Storm Jul 4, 2026 - Jul 4, 2026

Sat July 4 New York (Lake Ontario) & Ohio & Pennsylvania Storm

Jul 4 Alley front -- 0.4" delivered, Johnson Creek peaked +14hrs as expected.

July 4 New York (Lake Ontario) & Ohio & Pennsylvania Storm Card

Meteorological Analysis

A moderate storm system rolled through the Steelhead Alley region starting on Saturday, July 4, 2026 and lasting until Saturday, July 4, 2026. The storm was active for approximately 1 hours, dumping a maximum of 0.39" of rain across affected zones. Geographically, the weather system impacted the New York (Lake Ontario), Ohio, Pennsylvania regions, causing rapid water-level rises on multiple tributaries.

Gauges recorded significant river responses, particularly along Irondequoit Creek (peaking at 74 CFS), Ashtabula River (peaking at 15 CFS), Rocky River near Berea (peaking at 86 CFS), Conneaut Creek (peaking at 19 CFS), Vermilion River @ Vermilion (peaking at 37 CFS), Grand River near Painesville (peaking at 43 CFS), Cuyahoga River @ Independence (peaking at 324 CFS), Brandy Run near Girard (peaking at 1 CFS), Elk Creek (peaking at 8 CFS), Walnut Creek (peaking at 23 CFS), Twenty Mile Creek (peaking at 14 CFS), Crooked Creek (peaking at 3 CFS), Huron River (peaking at 61 CFS), Black River (peaking at 21 CFS), Euclid Creek (peaking at 7 CFS), Chagrin River @ Willoughby (peaking at 9 CFS), Salmon River (peaking at 496 CFS), Eighteenmile Creek (Niagara) (peaking at 98 CFS), Sandy Creek (Hamlin) (peaking at 50 CFS), Black River (Watertown) (peaking at 2,540 CFS), Sandy Creek (Adams) (peaking at 171 CFS), Oak Orchard Creek (peaking at 969 CFS), Genesee River (peaking at 618 CFS), Johnson Creek (peaking at 79 CFS). Angling conditions deteriorated quickly during the peak flow periods, leading to temporary washouts. Gaging stations monitored the recovery times as flows began returning to their baselines, mapping out the best windows for fishermen to get back on the water.

From a weather prediction standpoint, the NWS forecasts for this event received an aggregate score card grade of 'B'. Gaging observations were matched against NWS precipitation models to assess the forecasting margins, highlighting the variance in local rainfall amounts across the lake shores.