The rainstorm and flash flood at Mount Fulufjallet in August 1997: The meteorological and hydrological situation

The flood at Mount Fulufjallet, 30-31 August 1997 was caused by the most fu rious rainstorm ever documented in Sweden. Private measurements on the moun tain show nor less than 276 mm over 24 hours, and the distribution of sever e damage suggests even higher amounts in other parts of the mountain. The p recipitation was connected to a front attacking a high pressure that had be en dominating the weather in Sweden for several weeks, but orographic lifti ng on the east-facing slopes of the mountain may partly have caused the ext reme intensity. In River Fulan. one of the upper branches of River Dalalven , the discharge peaked at a diurnal mean value of 233 m(3)/s, the highest s ince measurements began in 1913. At the stream Tangan and the new common ou tlet of the streams Store and Lilla Goljan, both locations with a normal di scharge of only around 1 m(3)/s, instantaneous values of approximately 300 m(3)/s have been estimated, corresponding to values close to the normal dis charge at the mouth of River Dalalven on the coast of the Sea of Bothnia.