How to Use rockfall in a Sentence

rockfall

noun
  • Sleep buries me like a rockfall tumbling down the cliff of a highway.
    — Rebecca Grossman-Kahn, STAT, 10 Mar. 2022
  • The trail was closed because of rockfall and landslides from the winter storms.
    — Michael Salerno, The Arizona Republic, 19 July 2023
  • Perhaps an ice sheet, disturbed by the rockfall, was ringing like a bell.
    — Robin George Andrews, Quanta Magazine, 12 Sep. 2024
  • The rockfall showered visitors with rocks, branches and a plume of dust and sand.
    — Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2019
  • The park estimated enough debris came from the rockfall to fill the bed of a pickup.
    — NBC News, 14 Aug. 2019
  • When he was reported missing, a helicopter crew found his body in the rockfall.
    — Evan Bush, The Seattle Times, 14 July 2017
  • Pressure builds and fractures the rock, prompting rockfalls and avalanches.
    — Paul Hockenos, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The closure comes days after a massive rockfall was recorded at Yosemite.
    — Andrea Vacchiano, Fox News, 27 Feb. 2023
  • The park service repeatedly closed parts of the road last summer amid heavy rains, rockfall and mudslides.
    — USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2020
  • Avalanches, rockfalls and slope failures can also trigger glacial lake outburst floods.
    — Suzanne Oconnell, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2025
  • This will allow staff to clear any remaining rockfall, according to the park service.
    — Michael Salerno, USA TODAY, 2 June 2023
  • Other area climbers witnessed the rockfall and the avalanche, park authorities said in the release.
    — Claudia Dominguez, CNN, 30 May 2022
  • Yosemite documents an average of more than 80 rockfalls a year, but injuries from such events are rare.
    — Matthew Haag and Matt Stevens, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2017
  • Heavy mudflow and rockfall have littered the roadway, which maintenance crews will work to remove once the heavy rain subsides.
    — Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2021
  • Sulfur dioxide, rockfalls and explosions are the main hazards, the agency says.
    — Angela Fritz, Washington Post, 25 Apr. 2018
  • The park closed Northside Drive for 24 hours in response, though no one was harmed during the rockfall.
    — Andrea Vacchiano, Fox News, 27 Feb. 2023
  • As summer arrives, snow begins melting, ice hardens and rocks loosen, increasing the risk of falls and rockfall.
    — Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 2 July 2026
  • Dodging rockfall that would’ve cracked my low-hanging differential.
    — Josh Rivera, USA Today, 21 June 2026
  • The park said at least 30 climbers were on the formation Wednesday during the deadly rockfall.
    — Yelena Dzhanova, NBC News, 30 Sep. 2017
  • Many of the accidents, the report noted, were preventable, but around 10 percent came from rockfalls.
    — National Geographic, 28 Sep. 2017
  • In July, a British man attempted a via ferrata that had been closed because of rockfall.
    — Kassondra Cloos, Outside, 10 Sep. 2025
  • As the storm continued, a rockfall shut down one of the entrances to Yosemite National Park.
    — Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2022
  • The part of the dome left exposed creates a natural roof over the swimming hole, but authorities warn not to get too close to it because of the risk of rockfall.
    — Talia Avakian, Travel + Leisure, 14 May 2026
  • But the recent rains do mean that soils remain wet, which can leave trees more vulnerable to high winds and hillsides more vulnerable to rockfalls and slides.
    — Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Erosion is a persistent concern on Tristan, where rockfalls and landslides are common.
    — NPR, 4 Apr. 2026
  • The anecdotal increase in rockfall in the mountain range comes as warmer temperatures take their toll on glaciers, which long covered the Tetons.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 23 Sep. 2022
  • The hours for Summit Road vary by season, and rockfalls or weather may close it occasionally.
    — Chris Mueller, Des Moines Register, 9 Mar. 2026
  • The North Kaibab Trail is closed because of extensive damage and rockfalls along the upper section of the trail.
    — Michael Salerno, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025
  • To the north, Highway 1 was closed near Big Sur as officials assessed rockfall and debris that came down with the storm.
    — Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2021
  • But after a climber was killed in a rockfall where that group had camped last week, Krasnitskiy’s group planned to make a quicker ascent and skip that site, and to camp near the summit.
    — NBC News, 7 June 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rockfall.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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