Welcome To Southeast New Mexico Weather.

June 19, 2026. Between Mayhill & Cloudcroft. Come Wednesday (July 1st), the year will be half over; our daily high/low/average temps will slowly start trending downward; and we lose a little more daylight each day, and normally our annual summer monsoon is underway.  When I was a kid in the 60s, the oldtime farmers and ranchers used to tell me this. If it hasn't rained by the 4th of July, it's going to be a dry year. There is a lot of truth in that saying, given that's around the time our monsoon ramps up, producing afternoon and nighttime thunderstorms (t-storms) statewide.   July normally sees a big increase in thunderstorm activity statewide with the advent of the summer monsoon. This means an increase in the humidity, and this means July can be very muggy and miserable some years.  Average rainfall really ramps up in July, especially over the mountains.  Elk normally averages 1.62" of rainfall in June. July averages 3.14". Mountain Park normally averages...

June 23, 2026. T-Stomrs Near Dunken.  June has been a hot one so far, with Roswell and the Caprock Raws topping out at 109. Close behind are the Artesia and Carlsbad Airports with 108. Today will be another rinse and repeat day as far as heat goes, with highs across southern and southeastern New Mexico ranging from near 100 to 107. As the monsoonal high shifts east of New Mexico into the Tennessee River Valley by next Tuesday, our highs will start easing down a few degrees next week...mid to upper 90's.  As the high shifts east, an unusually deep and strong late-season upper-level trough of low pressure will dig southward into the Great Basin and northern Rockies by this weekend. This will increase the southwesterly flow aloft over New Mexico. Dry and windy weather will impact central and northern New Mexico this weekend with an increased risk of rapid fire spread.  A few widely scattered to scattered t-storms will dot the southeastern plains, Guadalupe, Sacramento, and C...

June 15, 2026. A T-Storm Over Queen. Looking West From Carlsbad Caverns. Wednesday was, shall we say, toasty.  Selected high temperatures Wednesday and record highs for the day: Roswell Airport ASOS 109. Record high for the date: 110 in 2017. Caprock NWS Climate COOP Station 109 . Previous record high 105 in 2017. Artesia Airport AWOS 108 . Tied the 108 in 2017. Carlsbad Airport ASOS 108. Record high 110 in 1977, NWS COOP Station 110 in 1924. Artesia NWS Climate COOP Station 107. Record high 108 in 2008. My Davis Vantage Pro2+ PWS 107. On June 17, 2025, I recorded a high of 110. Hobbs Airport 106. Record high 108 in 2017. NWS Climate COOP Station 109 in 2017. Brantley Dam NWS Climate COOP Station 105. Record high 108 in 2008. Carlsbad Caverns Natl Park Visitor Center - Bat Draw Raws 104. Record high 105 in 2011. Ruidoso NWS Climate COOP Station 92. Record high 95 in 1980. Sierra Blanca Regional Airport AWOS 92. Previous record high 91 in 2017. Cloudcroft NWS Climate COOP Station 8...

June 12, 2026. Carlsbad, New Mexico. Over the past week, multiple clusters of thunderstorms and Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) have formed along the central mountain chain and then moved out onto the eastern and southeastern plains. Southeast New Mexico has been the big winner recently as far as heavy rainfall goes.  Here at our home in Carlsbad, my June rainfall now stands at 3.49" after this morning's early round of thunderstorms that left .26" in my rain bucket. I now stand at 2.87" above normal for the month, or 564% of normal to date for June, bringing my year-to-date rainfall to 5.80", which is 3.60" above normal, or 161% of normal for the year.  Overall rainfall over the eastern half of the state for May and so far this month has been above normal for most locations but not all. This month has had pockets of heavy rainfall while some nearby locations haven't fared so well. Typical summertime thunderstorm behavior. Hit-and-miss storms are comm...

May 10, 2026. Cloudcroft, New Mexico. It's now official: El Niño has developed in the eastern Pacific Ocean. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center announced this morning. El Niño starts with westerly winds across the equatorial Pacific. Those winds blow warm surface waters eastward, creating a warm pool in the eastern tropical Pacific. That heats the air above, causing it to rise and triggering a chain reaction that reshuffles key weather patterns in the global atmosphere. This could be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, El Niño since recordkeeping began in 1950. Some have speculated that it may even be stronger than the historic El Niño of 1877 that killed over 50 million people. The 1877–1878 El Niño event was the strongest El Niño on record. It contributed to widespread drought and famine in multiple countries, causing the death of more than 50 million people. Disasters associated with it include the Great Famine of 1876–1878 in India, the Grande Seca in Brazil, and ...

May 26, 2026. Carlsbad, New Mexico. Cumulonimbus Mamatus (CBMAM). Smoke Trail From A Tank Battery Fire Underneath. A Flash Flood Watch is in effect for Lincoln County for Friday afternoon, including the Ruidoso area.  It was pretty cool to wake up to thunder this morning in Carlsbad from 4:30 through 6:30 AM. I still have moderate rain falling at 7 AM. Selected 24-hour rainfall totals as of 7 AM this morning include: Our home in NW Carlsbad .20"; 2.09" for June; Year-to-date 4.40". Las Cruces CoCoRaHS 6.9 ESE 2.12" Clovis PWS - Biscuit 2.01" Talavera Fire Station ALERT MISC- SE of Las Cruces 1.88" Clovis PWS 1.86" RIO GRANDE AT CANUTILLO HADS 1.80" Clovis CoCoRaHS 1.7 NE 1.68" Lovington PWS White House 1.42" Carrizozo 1.38" Las Cruces/Mesilla Hills Lower Bilbo Pond ALERT-MISC 1.18" Lovington NMCC 1.17" Dona Ana County Govt Center ALERT MISC 1.14" Mayes Ranch PWS - SW Whites City 1.13" Malaga XL Automated Statio...

May 26, 2026.  Rotating Wall Cloud. 12 Miles WSW Of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Round two today with scattered to numerous thunderstorms developing over the Guadalupe, Sacramento, and Capitan Mountains, then drifting east and again coalescing into another thunderstorm complex,  a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS)  late this afternoon into tonight.  A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for Eddy, Lea, Culberson Counties and parts of the Permian Basin. Another 1" to 2" of rain with locally higher amounts may fall on top of what fell yesterday and overnight.  A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for Lincoln County through 10 PM MDT this evening for additional heavy rainfall on top of what has fallen the past couple of days. Flash Flood Warnings are already being issued for the Ruidoso area as of this writing (2 PM MDT). Numerous thunderstorms developed Tuesday afternoon over the Guadalupe, Sacramento, and Capitan Mountains. These coalesced into a thunderstorm complex...

May 31. 2026. Looking East From C-Hill. A Haboob Approaching Carlsbad From The East-Southeast. Note: To all of my Facebook subscribers, I am unable to share this blog post with our local groups once again. Facebook has throttled me again. So go to my timeline to view this blog post or see it on my weather web page. Feel free to share it on Facebook or X.  Welcome to the beginning of the meteorological summer (June 1st - Sept 30th). And a wet one at that. Is this also the start of our much-talked-about and anticipated El Niño? Maybe.  This week promises to be wet to very wet across much of the state starting today. A cluster of thunderstorms (mesoscale convective system or MCS) developed along the east slopes of the northern Sacramento Mountains yesterday afternoon, then drifted southeast out into the Pecos Valley. As of sunrise this morning, a few scattered showers from this complex continued north of the Ruidoso area.  A messy upper air pattern exists over the Desert So...