My Current Weather

Friday, September 29, 2017

Past Week Has Been Cool & Wet.


Clouds Topping The Guadalupe's.



On my way home from work this past Tuesday I was able to capture these two shots looking west along the New Mexico/Texas State line (east of US Hwy 62/180) at clouds topping the Guadalupe Mountains. 

Wet Past 7-Days.

NWS HARP 7-Rainfall Totals.



Measured 7-Day Rainfall Totals.




















Carlsbad Climate Co-Op Station.


Carlsbad Airport.


Artesia Climate Co-Op Station.


Roswell Airport.


This past week has been a soaker for the eastern one half of New Mexico including the Southeastern Plains. As of 9 AM MDT this morning the heaviest 7-Day rainfall total I can come up with in the local area is 5.59" measured at the Portales CoCoRaHS Station located 5.1 miles south-southwest of town. The Texico CoCoRaHS Station located 13.6 miles north of town has measured 4.37" of rain for the past week. Several other stations in Eastern New Mexico has measured weekly storm totals in the four inch range.

As of 7 AM this morning I had measured 2.42" of rain over the past 7-Days here at our home in northwest Carlsbad. A steady light to moderate rain has been falling since then and as of 11 AM I have measured another .38". This brings my weekly total now to 2.80", my monthly total to 3.06", and my year-to-date total to 13.79"

Not has it been wet it has also been cool...a welcome relief from the heat of summer. The Carlsbad Airports high temps for the past four days include-

Tuesday 73
Wednesday 64
Thursday 67

Welcome To Fall New Mexico Style.

The rains and cool weather will come to an end by Sunday with our forecast high to rise up to 85.

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Flash Flooding In Dark Canyon Monday - More Flooding Possible!


Blog Updated At 7:14 AM MDT.

24-Hour Radar Estimated Rainfall Totals.
(As Of 6 AM MDT This Morning).

Midland NWS Dual Pol Doppler Radar.










Radar estimated that 4.50" of rain fell over the Dark Canyon Arroyo 12 miles west of Whites City yesterday morning. This produced flash flooding in Dark Canyon. The Dark Canyon flood gauge located north of Whites City and southwest of Carlsbad measured a maximum water depth in the normally dry arroyo of 6.15 feet at 11:15 AM MDT Monday morning. By the time the flood waters worked their way northeastward into Carlsbad the Dark Canyon flood gauge located near the low water crossing bridge on San Jose Blvd measured a peak depth of 3.9 feet at 8:30 AM MDT yesterday. This falls way short of the flooding that was observed in September of 2014 when water depths exceeded 20 feet at the gauge in town. 







Flash Flooding In Dark Canyon Arroyo Monday Afternoon.


Hidalgo Rd & Dark Canyon Rd SW Of Carlsbad Monday Afternoon.

Local measured 5-day rainfall totals in Eddy County are falling in the 1" to 2" range with most of this falling in the past two days.

With estimated rainfall totals in the past three days in the 4" to 5" range over the Dark Canyon watershed southwest of Carlsbad this area is now primed to experience additional flash flooding should additional heavy rains fall over this area. Which currently is in our local forecast to occur. It won't take much more rainfall to produce flash flooding along and near the Dark Canyon Arroyo watershed as well as across other areas of Northeaster, Eastern, and Southeastern New Mexico and parts of West Texas.

Remember - Turn Around Don't Drown!





The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!

Monday, September 25, 2017

More Hail Damage Photos Near Washington Ranch From Saturday Evening.








Photos Are Courtesy Of Janet Mayes Of Carlsbad, NM.

More photos of of the hail damage from a couple of miles north of the NM/TX State line north of U.S. Hwy 62/180 near the Washington Ranch area Saturday around 6:15 PM MDT.

Additional photos and information on this storm can be viewed via this link-

Supercell Thunderstorms Roam The High Desert Saturday.

Quote From Janet Mayes- "Storm damage from last nights storm. Broke the windshields on every vehicle that was not under the carport. Both jeeps, AJ's work truck, and the dump truck. Broke one window in my bedroom and the sky light in the bathroom again. Broken taillights and running lights on the new camper."

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Supercell Thunderstorms Roam The High Desert Saturday.

Blog Updated At 8:10 PM MDT.

Looking Southeast From Whites City At 6:26 PM MDT Saturday, Sept 23, 2017.

My wife jumped into the truck and headed southwest to Whites City Saturday afternoon to chase this supercell thunderstorm pictured above. As impressive as this storm was when I shot this photo it was even more so on radar before we got down there. It had formed a wall cloud but we didn't notice any significant rotation when I took this photo. The storm had already begun to weaken.

GRLevel2 Radar Snapshot Of This Supercell Thunderstorm At 5:15 PM MDT.

The El Paso/Santa Teresa NWS Office had warned on it for tennis ball size hail shortly before it rolled over the top of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. At 5:20 PM MDT the Hudspeth County Sheriff reported power lines downed from the storm in Dell City.

GRLevel3_2.00 Radar Snapshot At 6:07 PM MDT,

The Midland NWS Dual Pol Doppler Radar was indicating that the hail core aloft in the storm had reached 3.50" at the time I grabbed this snapshot. Strong mid level rotation was also noted. We were just south of the Carlsbad Airport at the time headed to Whites City. It was raining on us so it was hard to make out the storm details looking southwest into the front of the storm.

GRLevel3_2.00 Radar Snapshot At 6:31 PM MDT,

Here this severe thunderstorm had started making a right turn as it was entering Whites City. At 6:27 PM MDT we were sitting on the side of the road taking photos of the storm (see pic above) when hail started falling on us (pea to penny size). I didn't want to core punch this one with radar indicating very large hail so we turned around and headed north towards Carlsbad. Blinding sheets of rain and 50 mph wind gusts greeted us as we turned east on Black River Village Road. We turned around agiin and headed back to town in sheets of rain that was knocking the visibility down to around a 1/4 of a mile. 

GRLevel3_2.00 Radar Snapshot At 6:07 PM MDT.

I grabbed this Storm Relative Velocity (SRV) snapshot which shows the rotating couplet (green on red) southwest of Whites City. I wish we had left town a little earlier and we might have seen at least some decent rotation in the wall cloud.

GRLevel3_2.00 Radar Snapshot At 6:26 PM MDT.

This Storm Relative Velocity (SRV) snapshot at 6:26 PM MDT shows that the rotation within the supercell thunderstorm was weakening southeast of Whites City at the time I took the photo above.

Updated At 9:45 AM MDT This Morning.

Large Hail & Damages Near The NM/TX State Line Saturday Afternoon.











While I was pranked by my co-worker (see the comments below) about the large hail at the Hidalgo Gas Plant west of Orla, TX yesterday the photos above are real. Gail Carter in Carlsbad a friend of mine on Facebook sent me these photos this morning.

They are courtesy of Kendra Mayes, Tylar Colwell, and Donna Lewis. The photos were taken at the Lewis home north of U.S. Highway 62/180 near the New Mexico/Texas state line Saturday afternoon. I'm still working on getting the exact details of the storm as far as the time and location goes. Tylar Colwell is the grandson of Kendra Mayes, Donna Lewis is the Kendra's daughter and the mother of Tylar. They have lived at this location for 43 years and say that yesterday's hailstorm and high winds (estimated to be at least 70 mph) were the worst they have ever seen according to Gail. 

Hail - Wind Damage -Flash Flood Damage.









Tylar Colwell sent me the photos above this afternoon. They were taken on their ranch a couple of miles north of the the New Mexico/Texas State line and north of U.S. Hwy 62/180. Hail stripped the vegetation Saturday afternoon around 6:15 PM MDT including the bark and leaves off of mesquite bushes. I've only seen this happen in SE NM a couple of times in my lifetime and I will be 60 next spring. These photos were taken in and near the XT Draw. As of this afternoon they hadn't found any livestock killed by the hail.

Please Note:

I have removed the pictures from the Hidalgo Gas Plant of the tennis ball size hail that I posted earlier this morning on this blog. My co-worker Hank Pitre at the Hidalgo Gas Plant (located 18 miles west of Orla, TX in northern Culberson County) called me this morning and told me that the pictures were a prank and fake. They have been deleted from my Facebook Page and Twitter Page as well.

The damage to the Forklift folder was not caused by the hail but by being run over by the forklift. The picture of the hail was downloaded from the internet and was not from yesterday's hailstorm at the plant. I am so sorry for this folks and you have my sincere apologizes. Apparently some people think that severe weather is funny.

My sincere apologizes to the Midland National Weather Service Office as well. I found out about this at 8:59 AM MDT this morning. I promise you that I would never intentionally lie about severe weather and post something knowingly false. It won't happen again!


Two inches of rain (1.96") drowned the plant also.

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!

Current NWS Watches/Warnings In Effect

New Mexico

Eddy County

Chaves County Plains & Mtn's

Culberson County

Lea County

Lincoln County

Otero County

Current US Temps

Current US Wind Chill/Heat Index Temperatures

NWS Midland Forecast

NWS Albuquerque Forecast

NWS Albuquerque Forecast

NWS El Paso Forecast

NWS Lubbock Forecast

NWS Lubbock Forecast

NWS Lubbock Forecast

My Blog Archive List

Average Daily High/Low Temperatures & Rainfall/Snowfall

Average Daily High/Low Temperatures & Rainfall/Snowfall