Flash Flood, Los Alamos
- When
- July 2, 4:20 PM MST to 5:00 PM MST
- Where
- Los Alamos County, Los Alamos
- Property damage
- $3.5 million
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 35.869, -106.307 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in New Mexico, July 2, 2001
A storm with heavy rain of 1 to 2 inches in an hour developed over Pueblo Canyon on the west edge of Los Alamos. Storm runoff from the burnt forest was brief, but intense with water and mud flows estimated at 1500 CFS which overwhelmed the inlet structure west of North Road and then breached the street 60 feet above.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $3.5 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.
A storm with heavy rain of 1 to 2 inches in an hour developed over Pueblo Canyon on the west edge of Los Alamos. Storm runoff from the burnt forest was brief, but intense with water and mud flows estimated at 1500 CFS which overwhelmed the inlet structure west of North Road and then breached the street 60 feet above. A 150 yard section of road surface was destroyed and one of the city's main sewer lines was undercut then broken. Debris fill the basement of at least 5 homes along Alabama Avenue.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 2, 2:10 PM MST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 2:10 PM MST, 2 hours 10 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 310 PM MDT MON JUL 2 2001 12Z UPPER AIR ANALYSIS SHOWS THE 500MB HIGH CENTERED WEST OF THE FOUR-CORNERS ALONG THE ARIZONA/UTAH BORDER. 500MB TEMP OVER ABQ AT 12Z WAS -7C...WITH -9C SHOWING UP AT GJT/DEN/AMA. THE FLOW AT 500MB IS GENERALLY FROM THE NORTH/NORTHEAST...SO THERE IS DEFINITELY SOME COLD AIR ADVECTION GOING ON AT THIS LEVEL. BOTH THE NGM AND MESOETA 12Z RUNS SHOW PRECIP ALONG AND WEST OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN CHAIN THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT...WITH THE NGM GOING BONKERS ON THE QPF. STORMS CURRENTLY INTENSIFYING OVER THE NORTHERN AND WESTCENTRAL MOUNTAINS WILL BE MOVING SOUTH/SOUTHWEST WITH TIME. THE LATEST VAD WIND PROFILE FROM KABX SHOWS A SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW...WHICH STORMS MOVING OFF OF THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS WILL EAT-UP THIS EVENING. GIVEN 500MB COLD AIR ADVECTION...PLENTY OF SURFACE HEATING AND THESE SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL WINDS...HAVE SOME CONFIDENCE THAT STORMS WILL BE ABLE TO HOLD TOGETHER THIS EVENING AND BRING SOME RAIN TO PLACES LIKE SANTA FE...ALBUQUERQUE AND TAOS. FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS...THE UPPER HIGH WILL WOBBLE AROUND THE FOUR- CORNERS...ALLOWING AT OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS TO CONTINUE WITH SCATTERED DAYTIME/EVENING CONVECTION IN THE WEST AND ISOLATED STUFF IN THE EASTERN PLAINS. NO MONSOON...YET. HOWEVER...BOTH THE ECMWF/MRF SHOW THE UPPER HIGH MIGRATING EASTWARD ON THURSDAY AND INTO TX/OK BY FRIDAY...ALLOWING A SOUTHERLY FETCH TO DEVELOP FROM THE SURFACE UP. THIS WOULD BE A MONSOON PATTERN...ALLOWING MOISTURE TO STREAM POLEWARD FROM MEXICO...WHICH WOULD FAVOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS AFTERNOON/EARLY NIGHTTIME THUNDERSTORMS WITH PLENTY OF RAIN ACTUALLY GETTING INTO THE BUCKET. CA ABQ BB 066/093 066/095 067 50422 SAF BB 061/088 060/089 060 50423 TCC BB 066/093 067/095 067 50100 .ABQ...NONE.
The radar
The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:19 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail in Nebraska, July 2, 2001
- Flooding and Hail in Georgia, July 2 to 4, 2001
- Damaging Winds in New Mexico, July 2, 2001
- Flash Flood and Lightning Strike in North Carolina, July 2 to 3, 2001
- High Wind in Nevada, July 2, 2001
- Hail in Montana, July 2, 2001
- Flood in North Carolina, July 2, 2001
- Hail in Montana, July 2, 2001
- Hail in Montana, July 2, 2001
- Waterspouts in Mississippi, July 2, 2001
- High Wind in California, July 2, 2001
- High Surf in Hawaii, July 2, 2001
More
Every storm in New Mexico in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, July 2001
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5258514.