Last Nights Rainfall Totals.

Saturday, August 18, 2018.

What looked like a small and very brief shear funnel cloud that lasted less than one minute popped out of the base of this thunderstorm east of Ruidoso Downs this past Saturday morning at 11:41 AM MDT. Its just above the hilltop and to the left of the flag pole. 

Last Nights Rainfall.

Radar Estimates & Reported 24-Hour Totals.

(As Of 4 PM MDT This Monday Afternoon).

Judging by the intense lightning generated by this mornings complex of thunderstorms (MCS) that rolled southward through the Pecos Valley and the Caprock area you would have thought that most of us got clobbered by heavy rain. Not so. Once again it was a true case of hit and miss. There were pockets of 1" to 2" totals but these occurred east of Artesia and Carlsbad, and south and southwest of Carlsbad.

Midland NWS Doppler Radar Estimated 24-Hour Rainfall Totals.

Rainfall estimates by the Midland National Weather Service Doppler Radar appear to have been too high this morning...cut these total in half and you would be closer to the ground truth based on what was reported it appears. We picked up .15" here at our home in northwest Carlsbad while a few blocks away radar estimated that an inch of rain fell from Spring and Mesa streets eastward. But a CoCoRaHS rainfall observer only reported .56" to our east. So while radar was estimating that 3" may have fallen east of Hwy 31 east of Carlsbad the truth may be closer to 1.50" to 2.00". This year has just been crazy how spotty the rains have been.

Much Of SE NM Still Looks Like This.

Saturday, August 8, 2018.

Taken South Of Roswell, New Mexico.

Dry pastures still dominate much of our local landscape even with the summer rains. That's because these rains have been really spotty in nature so far. Drive down the road a mile or a few miles and you see the same landscape but its lush and green. Go on another few miles and its back to dry, dry, dry.

Case in point. The Carlsbad Airport picked up .12" of rainfall this morning which brings their August total to .73". Normal through the 20th of August is 1.24". This brings their year-to-date total to 5.84" compared to a normal of 8.25" as of this morning. So the Carlsbad Airport is still about 3" behind normal for this time of the year. And they have had roughly 3.20" more of rain this year than I have.

Six miles to the northwest my August total with this mornings .15" now stands at .45" which brings my year-to-date total to 2.65". This puts me at about 5.60" behind normal for this time of the year. This is typical for most of Southeastern New Mexico too.

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!