A large cluster of thunderstorms dropped 3 to 5 inches of rain on much of the triangle between Las Cruces, Hatch and Deming, which is an unusually large area for such rainfall amounts in the desert southwest. The Placitas Arroyo near Hatch breached for the third time in 3 weeks, flooding mainly farm land.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS EPZ wrote it up.
A large cluster of thunderstorms dropped 3 to 5 inches of rain on much of the triangle between Las Cruces, Hatch and Deming, which is an unusually large area for such rainfall amounts in the desert southwest. The Placitas Arroyo near Hatch breached for the third time in 3 weeks, flooding mainly farm land. A flood wave resulted in minor flooding of the Rio Grande River downstream into the El Paso area, the third time this month. Before August 1st, the previous time was August 1999. On the north side of the Sierra De La Uvas Mountains, a huge amount of runoff flooded the desert and led to the closure of Interstate 10 between Deming and Las Cruces for several hours. Closing the interstate along this stretch is not uncommon during dust storms, but extremely rare for flooding. The flooding also did damage to structures in this sparsely populated area.
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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 28, 2:26 PM MST, 5 hours 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX/SANTA TERESA NM 326 PM MDT MON AUG 28 2006 .SYNOPSIS... AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT WILL HELP INCREASE OUR RAIN CHANCES AND DECEASE OUR AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO SEE A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK...WITH TEMPERATURES RUNNING NEAR NORMAL. BY THE END OF THE WEEKEND ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA...AGAIN COOLING OUR TEMPERATURES AND INCREASING OUR CHANCES FOR RAIN. && .DISCUSSION... QUITE A POTPOURRI OF WEATHER TO LOOK AT TODAY. WEVE GOT PRECIP...FRONTS AND MODEL DIFFERENCES. CONVECTION THIS AFTERNOON IS ALREADY UP AND GOING IN THE MOUNTAINS...WELL PROBABLY SEE SOME OF THE CONVECTION CREEP DOWN INTO THE LOWLANDS. SPEAKING OF CREEPING THERE IS ALSO A COLD FRONT CREEPING SOUTH THROUGH THE EAST PLAINS OF NEW MEXICO. THIS FRONT WILL WORK INTO THE AREA DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. THE FRONT WILL COOL OUR TEMPS A FEW DEGREES AND IT MAY INCREASE OUR RAIN CHANCES. AND THAT IS WHERE WE COME TO THE MODEL DIFFERENCES. THE NGM AND TO A LESSER EXTENT THE WRF BRING THE MOISTURE PLUME THAT CURRENTLY SITS JUST TO OUR SOUTHEAST...BACK OVER US. IF THE NGM IS TO BE BELIEVED WE ARE GOING TO SEE ANOTHER WIDE SPREAD HEAVY RAIN EVENT FOR EL PASO...BUT FOR NOW ILL LEAN TOWARD THE NAM AND GFS SOLUTION WHICH DOES INCREASE OUR POPS...BUT DOESNT BRING IN WIDE SPREAD HEAVY PRECIP FOR TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY. FOR NOW ILL GO WITH THE MIDDLE GROUND AND KEEP THE SCATTERED POPS FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AND LEAVE IT AT THAT. THE MIDDLE RANGE MODELS ALSO DIFFER WITH THE GFS KEEPING THE MOISTURE PLUME WELL TO OUR SOUTH WHILE THE DGEX KEEPS SOME MOISTURE IN THE AREA. I WILL TREND THE POPS TOWARD THE DRIER SCENARIO...BUT NOT AS DRY AS THE GFS IS INDICATING. FINALLY A SECOND COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA ON SUNDAY. THIS FRONT LOOKS STRONGER AND COOLER THAN TONIGHTS FRONT. SO IVE DROPPED THE HIGHS ON SUNDAY AND WE COULD SEE SOME INCREASED CHANCES FOR RAIN THEN. TEMPERATURES TOMORROW AND WEDNESDAY WILL BE A FEW DEGREES BELOW NORMAL BEHIND THE FIRST FRONT. TEMPERATURES WILL STRUGGLE BACK TOWARD NORMAL FOR THE END OF THE WEEK INTO THE FIRST PART OF THIS WEEKEND. THEN WILL SEE ANOTHER NOSE DIVE IN OUR HIGHS FOR NEXT SUNDAY AS THE NEXT FRONT MOVES THROUGH. && .AVIATION...VALID 00Z/29-00Z/30 GENERALLY VFR CONDITIONS EXCEPT FOR MVFR TO IFR CONDITIONS IN WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM ACTIVELY. ACTIVITY MORE NUMEROUS EAST OF THE RIO GRANDE. LOCAL AREAS MVFR IN CIGS AND VSBY EAST OF THE RIO GRANDE ON EAST FACING SLOPES AFTER MIDNIGHT INTO TUESDAY.LATEST TAF AND TWB PRODUCTS FOR UPDATED DETAILS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... EL PASO 67 85 65 87 66 / 30 50 40 20 20 SIERRA BLANCA TX 62 78 61 82 60 / 40 50 40 20 20 LAS CRUCES 65 86 64 86 65 / 20 40 40 20 20 ALAMOGORDO 62 88 61 88 61 / 20 40 30 20 20 CLOUDCROFT 46 64 43 65 44 / 20 50 40 20 20 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 62 86 61 85 62 / 10 40 30 20 20 SILVER CITY 59 82 56 82 57 / 10 40 30 20 20 DEMING 63 87 62 86 63 / 10 40 30 20 20 LORDSBURG 64 88 63 85 63 / 10 40 30 20 20 && .EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... 15
The El Paso radar (KEPZ), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:59 UTC.
2 flash flood, 2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, August 2006
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: 5530701, 5530702, 5530703, 5530704.