A stubborn storm parked over Death Valley on November 15, 2025, and the desert didn’t know what hit it: Furnace Creek recorded 0.6 inches of rain — a number that’s more than a quarter of the park’s usual annual total. In terrain that sheds water off bedrock and washes it down into narrow canyons, that half-inch-plus didn’t soak in; it ran hard and fast, turning arroyo channels into destructive flows of mud, rock, and debris that have chewed up road shoulders and left pavement buried or gone.
That’s why several well-known routes are closed right now: Badwater Road is shut end-to-end, and North Highway, West Side Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, and Charcoal Kilns Road are also out of service due to storm damage. Some key arteries remain passable — CA-190 through the park, CA-178/Trona-Wildrose Road, Daylight Pass, and Dantes View — but don’t treat “open” as “easy.” Upper Wildrose and the road to Cottonwood-Marble Canyons are rough and currently require four-wheel drive. Unpaved roads elsewhere may be impassable due to mudflows or erosion; plan for self-rescue and expect that some tracks won’t drive as they did before the storm.
Park staff from Death Valley National Park are conducting damage assessments and may announce additional closures as conditions are evaluated. If you’ve got plans in the valley, change them now: check current road status at nps.gov/deva before you go, travel with recovery gear and plenty of water, and don’t attempt to bypass closures for a better photo or shortcut. The desert moves fast after a storm — and it’s the road, not the scenery, that will inform you which way to leave.