Name: Flash Flooding in New Mexico, September 15, 2001
Start: 2001-09-15T14:10
End: 2001-09-15T15:30
Location: New Mexico

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $600,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

Heavy rain estimated at 2 to 3 inches swept over Ruidoso producing heavy runoff into Gavilan, Eagle and Paradise Canyons which swept south filling these normally dry arroyos to near record water levels. Hull Road and Gavilan Canyon Road suffered heavy asphalt removal while the mud and debris at one time threatened several road bridges. Runoff was aggravated by soils wet from several days of late summer rain and also the heavy runoff from nearby fire scorched forest areas.

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 Sep 15, 10:15 AM MST, 3 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 15, 10:15 AM MST, 3 hours 55 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
1115 AM MDT SAT SEP 15 2001

SOME DRYING HAS TAKEN PLACE NW CORNER EVIDENCED BY SIGNIFICANTLY
LOWER DEWPOINTS KFMN/KSKX...HOWEVER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE REMAINS IN
PLACE ELSEWHERE. MODELS NOT AS AGRESSIVE DRYING US OUT AS THEY WERE
YESTERDAY. WIND NOW NE AT KCAO AND AREA OF LOWER CLOUDS APCHG FROM
NE...BUT STALLED ATTM. MORNING RAOBS MORE UNSTABLE THAN 24 HOURS AGO
WITH COOLER MID LEVEL TEMPS.  UPDATED ZFP TO REFLECT WIND SHIFT IN
AS WELL AS BETTER DEFINE AREAS OF ISOLATED SEVERE POTENTIAL PER SPS
AND CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK.

.ABQ...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 15, 9:45 AM MST, 4 hours 25 minutes before

NMZ001>021-026-152100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
1045 AM MDT SAT SEP 15 2001

NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREAT...THERE IS A
SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF
NEW MEXICO LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND DURING THE EVENING.

BURNED AREA RAIN OUTLOOK...SMALL AMOUNTS OF RAIN CAN STILL PRODUCE
MAJOR FLASH FLOODING IN AREAS THAT SUFFERED LARGE WILDFIRES IN YEAR
2000 OR YEAR 2001. THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOOD PRODUCING RAIN TODAY
AND TONIGHT...
IN LINCOLN COUNTY...MODERATE.
IN LOS ALAMOS COUNTY...MODERATE.
IN SAN MIGUEL COUNTY...MODERATE TO HIGH.

WEATHER SYNOPSIS...COOLER MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES AND DRIER AIR
ALOFT...COMBINED WITH MORE THAN ADEQUATE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND
AFTERNOON HEATING...WILL RESULT IN AFTERNOON AND EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS OVER MOST OF THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. LOW
LEVEL EASTERLY WINDS INTO NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO COULD AID
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...AND PRODUCE ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS
EVENING.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

COLFAX...MORA...SAN MIGUEL...UNION...AND HARDING.

THIS OUTLOOK PRODUCT IS FOR PLANNING PURPOSES TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL
HAZARDOUS OR LIFE THREATENING WEATHER. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE
SPECIFIC STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS RELATED TO FLASH FLOODS AND SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS.

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO.
FOR FAR SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO USE PRODUCT WWUS84 KMAF.
FOR SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO USE PRODUCT WWUS84 KEPZ.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Lincoln

When: September 15, 2:10 PM MST to 3:10 PM MST
Where: Lincoln County, Ruidoso
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 33.745, -105.459 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Lincoln

When: September 15, 3:30 PM MST
Where: Lincoln County, Ruidoso Downs
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 33.745, -105.459 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

More

Every storm in New Mexico in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Mexico, September 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: 5262837, 5262838.