Welcome To Southeast New Mexico Weather.

I took the two photos above 7 miles ENE of Halfway on US Hwy 62/180 between Carlsbad and Hobbs. Lots of quarter to hen egg size hail on the ground.  I took this photo in the one above in downtown Lovington after golf ball-sized hail stripped leaves off of trees and broke numerous windows in the town. Hail drifted all over town. I took this photo of tennis ball-sized hail 5 miles south of McDonald on State Hwy 206, south of Tatum in northern Lea County. I took this photo 9 miles northeast of Tatum on State Hwy 125. Nice end to my chase. My Lea County Storm Chase Video. The 2025 NM Severe Weather Season Is Off To A Fast Start. Severe thunderstorms are not unusual in northeastern, eastern, and southeastern New Mexico in April. Although they generally become more numerous and widespread in May and June. Some years we have a second severe weather season, which can occur from late August through October. Severe thunderstorms can occur in just about every month of the year in New Mex...

April 16, 2025. Alamagordo, New Mexico. A strong spring closed upper-level low was centered southwest of Portland, Oregon, early this morning. It is forecast to slowly drift to the south and southeast today into late this weekend, and by Sunday evening,g it should be located over northern Utah.  At the surface, the dryline had backed as far west as the eastern slopes of the Guadalupe, Sacramento, and Capitan mountains. With surface dew point temperatures about as rich as you get in April (mid to upper 60's). The dryline will mix eastward this afternoon to near the NM/TX State line. Then later this evening, back westward into southeastern New Mexico. A slow-moving cold front was draped over eastern and northeastern New Mexico this morning. It will sag a little further to the south before washing out Saturday afternoon.  Counties in eastern and southeastern New Mexico near the state line (Quay, Curry, Roosevelt, Chaves, Eddy, and Lea Counties) will have the best shot at seeing s...

Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. Looking South From Alamagordo, New Mexico. Three days of high winds, blowing dust, and even mountain snow ended this past Saturday evening. Easter Sunday dawned cold with clear skies and calm winds. Moderate to heavy snow fell over the western and northern mountains as well as along and east of the Sandia and Manzano mountains. A storm total of 12.0" was reported in Gallup, and 9.6" was reported 4.8 miles east of Tijeras. A CoCoRaHS Station located 2.3 miles south of Cloudcroft reported a three-day snowfall total of 5.0", and the Cloudcroft NWS Climate Co-Op Station reported 5.0". Ruidoso reported a total of 1.0".  Westerly wind gusts of 50-65 mph were common across the state Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The highest gusts recorded on Thursday include 81 mph 10 miles SSE of Magdalena,79 mph at the Las Vegas Airport, and 74 mph at the Raton Airport. The highest gusts recorded on Friday include 78 mph at San Augustin Pass east of ...

April 15, 2025. Virga Sunrise - Carlsbad, NM. I took my cover photo this morning from C-Hill in Carlsbad. A virga sunrise. Virga is precipitation that falls from the clouds and evaporates before reaching the ground. Streaks or trails of virga are common in New Mexico as was the case this morning. Numerous locations across New Mexico broke their daily record high temperatures this past Friday and Saturday (April 11th & 12th). Several established new daily record maximum minimum temperatures as well. I'm hoping that this isn't an early precursor to what this summer has in store for us. Wednesday through Friday looks nasty again with high winds, blowing dust, and critically dangerous fire weather conditions. High Watches have already been issued for parts of northeastern, eastern, south-central, and southern New Mexico for Thursday. Southwesterly winds are forecast to become sustained at around 30 to 40 mph with gusts in the 60 to 65 mph range. Additional High Wind Watches, W...

April 6, 2025  Capitan Mountains. Looking Southeast From St Hwy 246. Record April Heat Yesterday & Again Today. A week ago yesterday (Saturday afternoon, April 5th) light to moderate snow was falling at our home in Carlsbad with a temp of 33 and northeasterly winds gusting to 50 mph. I recorded a high temp here at our home in northwest Carlsbad of 99 Saturday afternoon. You gotta love New Mexico's (or not) crazy weather swings in the spring.  The official high at the Carlsbad Airport ASOS was 97 which broke their record high temp for the date of 93 set in 2018. The Carlsbad Climate Co-Op Station recorded a high of 96 in 2018. The Roswell Airport ASOS recorded a high temp Saturday afternoon of 95 which broke their previous record high for the date of 94 set in 2018.  Numerous other locations across New Mexico also broke their daily record high temps Saturday afternoon.  Rinse and repeat again this Sunday afternoon as another day of near to record-breaking heat is ...

April 6, 2025. Capitan Mountains. 30 Miles NW Of Roswell, NM. Winter took one more swat at New Mexico and left some impressive snowfall amounts. Several locations in the northern mountains measured a foot and a half while a foot to a foot and a half of snow fell east of Albuquerque along the east slopes of the Sandia and Manzano mountains.  The northeastern and eastern plains measured anywhere from 1" to 5" (the Clovis area). Several reporting stations measured nearly 2" of rain in the Clovis and Portales areas. Surprisingly, the Sacramento mountains missed out from this storm. 1" to 2.5" of snow fell in the Cloudcroft area. The Ruidoso area picked up a little more than a trace with Nogal getting a half of an inch. Precipitation totals ended up being less than a quarter of an inch is very disappointing considering the existing very high fire danger and ongoing drought conditions.  Runyan Ranches and Elk in southwestern Chaves County reported 1.5" to 4.5...

April 4, 2025. Ski Apache At 8:30 AM MDT.   April Winter Storm Bearing Down Upon New Mexico! As of 9 AM this Friday morning the center of the mid-upper level low was located over central Arizona and still moving south. A strong backdoor cold front is still on track to enter northeastern New Mexico this afternoon and then push southward and westward into the state overnight into Saturday morning. Conditions will deteriorate over the state this afternoon into Saturday as the front pushes through and the winter storm to our west slides to the south of the state. A cold rain is forecast for the southeastern plains along with a few isolated to scattered thunderstorms. I wouldn't be surprised if some of us don't have a few bouts of thundersnow.  Winter Storm Warnings are now in effect for basically the eastern one-half of the state except for the southeastern plains, and the southern Sacramento and Guadalupe mountains. A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the northern Sacramen...

January 24, 2023. Carlsbad, New Mexico. Dark Canyon Road - West Of Carlsbad.  Major Winter Storm Coming! Special Weather Statement From NWS Lubbock. Mother Nature has decided to give us one more reminder that winter isn't through with New Mexico yet. The hardest hit areas look to be the northern mountains, northeastern and eastern New Mexico where a Winter Storm Watch  (see below) remains in effect from Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon. This will likely be upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning in my opinion with additional Winter Storm Warnings or Winter Weather Advisories possible for other areas of the state along and east of the mountains.  Scattered rain showers will increase tonight across the state. Rain will change over to snow in the mountains later tonight. A few isolated thunderstorms are possible tonight into Friday across the eastern one-half of the state from the mountains eastward into West Texas.  A strong backdoor cold front will sweep southwa...

April 1, 2025. Carlsbad, New Mexico. Setting Sun In Dust Obscured Sky. One can only hope that yesterday's high wind/blowing dust event was the last one this spring. Sorry, but I'm not getting my hopes up just yet. I sincerely hope I'm wrong on this because like most of you I'm sick and tired of these repeated dust storms we've endured since February.  Get ready because a drastic change is coming Thursday into Sunday. Think colder with snow and rain!

November 18, 2024. Rio Felix Normally Dry Arroyo. Old Yo Crossing Rd - 18 Miles SSW Of Roswell, NM. Looking North At Flood Debris From The Oct 19, 2024 Flash Flood. April Starts Off Wild! Today's weather across New Mexico will be no joke. Yet another widespread high wind/blowing dust event is slated for the state and area. Every county in New Mexico is under a High Wind Warning or a Wind Advisory  through this evening.  Damaging Winds! Damaging winds are forecast along and east of the central and south-central mountain chains eastward out onto the eastern and southeastern plains. Power poles, power lines, utility lines, trees, small sheds, outbuildings, fences, and roofs may be damaged or blown down in some locations. In the High Wind Warning areas, southwesterly winds are forecasted to become sustained at 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 60 to 65 mph. Localized higher gusts will be possible. Gusts in the Guadalupe Mountains may reach or exceed 75 mph! In the Wind Advisory areas, s...

September 21, 2024. West Of Hobbs, New Mexico. A Few Got Wet Most Didn't. What was surprising about our first rainfall event in quite some time (January) was that the Sacramento mountains ended up getting rain more than the southeastern plains, which for the most part got nothing over the past two days. At least somebody got wet right.  Radar also showed scattered thunderstorms dropped moderate to heavy rainfall northeast to southeast of El Paso, east of Roswell, and north of Tularosa. Some of these totals were in the .50" to 1.00" range. No severe thunderstorms developed over the southeastern plains either.

March 23, 2025. Sacramento Mountains East Of Alamogordo, NM.  Cumulus/Altocumulus Standing Lenticular/Cirrostratus Clouds. T-Storms Return But With Mixed Results. Overall not much has changed in my thinking concerning our two-day bout with widely scattered to scattered thunderstorms. Unfortunately for most of the state, these storms may end up creating more problems than good.  Dry thunderstorms are forecast for many areas of the state today into Thursday night as a mid-upper level trough of low-pressure swings eastward over the region. Low and mid-level moisture will be limited but enough will be present in combination with lift from the trough to kick off widely scattered thunderstorms. The southeastern plains have the best chances of seeing measurable rainfall but overall forecast models call for a tenth to perhaps a half of an inch of rain mainly over Eddy and Lea Counties. The further east and southeast you go into West Texas, the better the chances for heavier rainfall b...

March 23, 2025. Atoka 5 Miles South Of Artesia, NM. Blowing Dust/Sand From The March 18th High Wind Event. This Is Not Normal - High Winds Combined With The Ongoing Drought Have Nearly Buried This Fence With Drifts 3-4' High. National Blend Of Models Rainfall Forecast. (Wednesday Night - Friday Morning). Storm Prediction Center Day-3 Thunderstorm Outlook. (Wednesday). Slight Chance For T-Storms Wednesday - Thursday. A lot of attention is being generated for the possibility of scattered rain showers and a few thunderstorms occurring over the area Wednesday into Thursday night. But honestly, I'm not all that optimistic.  A weak mid-level trough of low pressure is forecast to swing eastward across northern Mexico and southern New Mexico and into West Texas by Thursday. Enough lift and marginal low-level moisture from the Gulf of America are forecast to accompany this approaching system to generate widely scattered rain showers and a few thunderstorms.  Some of these thunderstorms...

March 18, 2025.  Brownout Conditions. US Hwy 285 Near Lakewood, NM. There Is A Pickup Just Ahead Of Me.  March 18, 2025. Downtown Artesia, New Mexico. March 18, 2025. Runyan Ranches. Courtesy Of Camille Graham. Perhaps the worst widespread dust storm in recent memory created brownout conditions across many areas of southern, south-central, and southeastern New Mexico Tuesday afternoon. Numerous photos and videos were shared on social media showing visibilities that were measured in feet and yards, not miles.  Many reports of multi-vehicle accidents, some with injuries were seen in these same areas. Multiple reports of power lines, utility lines, small sheds, fences, and trees blown down and damaged were also noted in these areas.

March 15, 2025. My 11" CoCoRaHS Rain Gauge.  Friday's Dust Storm Deposited A Pecan Leaf, Grass, And Dirt In It. NWS Albuquerque Drought Information Statement. (March 7, 2025). 6-10 Day & 8-14 Day Precipitation Forecasts. Here we go again. Yet another high wind, blowing dust, and critically dangerous to extremely critically dangerous fire weather event is slated to get underway this afternoon into Tuesday night. High winds are forecast to ramp across most of the state late tomorrow morning into the afternoon and evening hours. Critically dangerous fire weather conditions will continue this week with strong winds again on Thursday and Friday. Long-range forecasts offer no real hope for drought relief.

March 15, 2025. My Brother's Yard. Atoka 6 Miles South Of Artesia.  My brother's yard was sandblasted in Friday's high winds. This is not normal. You should be looking at berumada grass instead of sand that blew across the road from the field in the background. 

March 3, 2025. Artesia, New Mexico. Sky Totally Obscured In Blowing Dust. Many New Mexicans are in for a shock tonight into Friday as a historic damaging high wind event unleashes itself upon the Land of Enchantment. This fast-moving spring storm will produce a multi-hazardous event across the state and region tonight into Saturday. 

March 10, 2025. Dust Suspended In The Air. Halfway Between Carlsbad & Hobbs, NM. Very Stable Conditons With Calm Winds Cause This. " A potentially historical, multi-hazard spring storm system will impact the region Thursday through Saturday. "   This is the opening statement from the Albuquerque National Weather Service Office Area Forecast Discussion this morning. It is rare to see this type of wording from our local NWS offices. 

March 3, 2025. Blowing Dust In Carlsbad, NM. Stormy Week Ahead. March is already living up to its reputation of being a stormy month. This upcoming week will add to that. We start the week off quietly (today- Tuesday). Then, our next windbag of a storm arrives mid-week and will produce areas of strong winds and blowing dust over south-central, eastern, and southeastern New Mexico. Critically dangerous fire weather conditions will also exist.  All eyes are already looking ahead to a stronger and colder fast-moving winter-like storm that will have major impacts upon the state and region next Thursday into Saturday. A widespread damaging high wind and blowing dust event, along with critically dangerous to extremely critically dangerous fire weather conditions, will impact much of the state. It's too early to know the exact details of what this powerful storm will produce, but it is entirely possible that the Albuquerue area could see damaging winds as well. Of particular concern will ...