Welcome To Southeast New Mexico Weather.

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...

Remembering The Wagoon Wheel Rd. Tornado 35 Years Ago Today. Thirty-five years ago this evening, perhaps one of the strongest, if not the strongest, tornadoes in Eddy County touched down at the southwest end of Wagoon Wheel Rd, three miles southeast of the Carlsbad Airport at 8:49 PM MDT.  I was the weather observer on duty at the Carlsbad Airport that evening. Upon seeing the power flashes and the tornado that was illuminated by them, I immediately ran back into the FAA Flight Service Station weather office and issued a single-element special weather observation (Tornado).  I then called 911 in Carlsbad and notified them, then I called the Albuquerque National Weather Service Office, which had forecast and warning responsibility for Eddy County at the time, and notified them. My last phone call was to Steve Devine in Roswell, who was the on-camera TV weathercaster at the time. Warnings to the public were immediately issued.  All of the photos in my blog post below were t...

May 13, 2026. Dissipating Airmass T-Storm. Looking South From Lakewood, New Mexico. Looking back at rainfall totals for the month across the state, it's easy to see that most areas received near-normal to above-normal rainfall. The exception for the far Four Corners area. Selected monthly totals include: Clayton CoCoRaHS 2.3 ENE 4.02" Lovington CoCoRaHS 3.0 NNE 3.51" Caprock Raws 3.09".  Clayton Airport ASOS 2.82". Normal May 1.85" Artesia CoCoRaHS 3.5 NNE 2.70".  Artesia Airport AWOS 2.56".  Runyan Ranches (SW Chaves Co) 2.52".  Hope NWS Climate COOP Station 2.46".  Lake Arthur COCORaHS 2.5 ESE 2.45". Artesia NWS Climate COOP Station 2:42". Normal May 1.18". Hope CoCoRaHS 25.9 SSW 2.29".  Dunken Raws 2.14". Hagerman NMCC 2.12".  Clovis NWS Climate COOP Station 13 N 1.87". Normal May 1.70".  Elk NWS Climate COOP Station 1.81". Normal May .99". Alto CoCoRaHS 7.4 W (Ski Apache) 1.80". ...

May 26, 2026. Slowly Rotating Wall Cloud. 27 Miles NW Of Carlsbad, New Mexico. May 26, 2026. Cylcic Wall Cloud. 20 Miles NW Of Carlsbad, New Mexico. May 26, 2026. Dissipating Wall Cloud. 12 Miles WSW Of Carlsbad, New Mexico. NWS Midland Doppler Radar. Cannon AFB Doppler Radar. Broad, weak rotation was noted on the Midland NWS Doppler Radar and the Cannon AFB Doppler Radars between 17,000' - 33,000'.  My First Storm Chase Of The Year - 5-26-2026. A thunderstorm formed along the east slopes of the Guadalupe Mountains about 30 miles northwest of Carlsbad, NM, on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. By 4 PM MDT, it had become a supercell and had started moving to the southeast (a right mover). I started filming it at 4 PM MDT, 27 miles northwest of Carlsbad on Marathon Rd, or about 10 miles west of the old Indian Basin Gas Plant. A broad wall cloud formed and slow rotation was noted a couple of times. I headed back east along Marathon Rd to the junction of St Hwy 137 (Queen Hwy) and then heade...

May 17, 2026. Seven Cabins Fire - Capitan Mountains. Widespread beneficial rainfall fell over the state yesterday and continued into early this morning. See the rainfall maps and lists via my blog post link for additional rainfall totals. Some of the selected heavier 24-hour rainfall totals include: Jal NMCC 3.23" McAlister CoCoRaHS 3.7 WNW 2.50" Elida  CoCoRaHS  5.7 W 2.50" Hobbs 18.5 WSW 2.29" Eunice 5 WNW 2.25" House CoCoRaHS 0.1 S 2.20" House NMCC 2.15" Hobbs 12.5 W 2.13" Dora NMCC 2.13" 10K Raws - Sandia Mountains 2.05" Lovington CoCoRaHS 3.0 NNE 1.94" North Elida NMCC 1.93" Carlsbad 29.5 NE 1.88" Tucumcari CoCoRaHS 10.6 E 1.84" Eunice 1.25 ESE 1.65" Albuquerque CoCoRaHS 7.6 E 1.50" Roswell CoCoRaHS 40.5 NE 1.50" Caprock Raws 1.29" Tatum CoCoRaHS 0.9 E 1.20" Hagerman NMCC .89" Hope - Public Report .70" IRAWS 1 (CORRAL CANYON) Capitan Mtns .65" Queen Raws - Guadalupe Mtns S...

May 17, 2026. Slurry Drops. Seven Cabins Fire - Capitan Mountains. The Albuquerque National Weather Service Office (NWS) has released its 2026 New Mexico Annual Summer Monsoon Outlook . I've uploaded some of their maps and graphics below.  For simplification purposes, I have listed some of our southeastern New Mexico and Sacramento Mountains' selected highest summer monsoon rainfall totals (June 1st through August 31stth) below. Note the official start of our annual monsoon is June 15th and runs through September 30th. What I've noticed about our highest summer monsoon rainfall totals across southeastern New Mexico and the Sacramento Mountains is that they are extremely variable. This year's summer outlook calls for a wet start to our monsoon in June over all of the state. Current long-range forecasts in the outlook call for a normal monsoon for the eastern half of the state this summer (June-August).  Chances for an above-normal monsoon from the central mountain chain ...

May 17, 2026. Seven Cabins Fire - Capitan Mountains. Updated at 6:15 PM MDT.  A cold front backdoored its way south and west into southeastern New Mexico early this morning, a little faster than forecast. Cooler air has overspread the eastern half of the state east of the central mountain chain. So our highs today across the southeastern plains will mostly be in the 80s. Southeasterly winds will increase low-level upslope flow from the Gulf tonight into Wednesday. This, combined with a series of shortwaves passing overhead, will help destabilize the atmosphere enough to produce widely scattered rain showers later tonight.  Low clouds, areas of fog, and light drizzle are forecast to develop over the eastern and southeastern plains tonight.  Widely scattered to scattered showers with a few thunderstorms will dot the landscape on Wednesday. Our chances of getting wet are in the 20% to 60% range tonight into Wednesday, with the best bet of getting rain in Lea County and acros...

May 8, 2026. Hondo, New Mexico. New Mexico's weather in May is interesting to say the least. Over time, we've seen it all this month. From raging forest and rangeland fires, drought, high winds and duststorms, late winter snows, hard freezes, heat waves, severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, very large hail, heavy rain, and flash flooding. May usually marks the beginning of our severe weather season in southeastern New Mexico, which normally lasts through June. Our severe weather season can start as early as March and last through July in some years. Round two usually comes in late August through October. While we suffer through daily high temps near to slightly above 100 today through Sunday with virtually no chance of getting wet, I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane with you and list some of our more notable weather extremes, starting with today. On this date in weather history...May 12th. From NWS Albuquerque: The first record of a tornado in New Mexico occurred on...