February 2015 precipitation was a tale of two halves. The first 10 days of the month were especially dry areawide.
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 ABQ wrote it up.
February 2015 precipitation was a tale of two halves. The first 10 days of the month were especially dry areawide. Record warmth during the second week took a major toll on the existing and rather meager mountain snowpack. Yet another impressive stretch of record or near record warmth on the 18th through 20th gave way to much colder temperatures and far more active and snowy pattern to close out the month. In fact, Albuquerque and portions of central New Mexico experienced record-breaking snow from late on the 25th through the 28th. Snowpack gains in the central and northern mountains were significant. Only slight improvements in he overall drought status were noted, however, with approximately one-quarter of the state classified in severe drought (D2) or worse. That was down nearly 5 percent from the previous month. Drought in the Four Corners area from Gallup to Shiprock remained the most severe.
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 Jan 31, 11:01 PM MST, 59 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 1101 PM MST SAT JAN 31 2015 .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE THE FAIRLY WIDESPREAD MVFR/IFR CIGS WITH MOUNTAINS OBSCURED WILL BECOME PERHAPS A LITTLE LESS WIDESPREAD AFTER MIDNIGHT...HOWEVER FOG MAY BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD. NO FURTHER SIGNIFICANT -SHSN AND -SHRA EXPECTED THROUGH FCST PERIOD. MOST OF THE FOG AND LOW CIGS SHOULD GRADUALLY DISSIPATE BETWEEN MID MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON SUNDAY. SHOULD BE VFR CONDITIONS MOST EVERYWHERE AFTER ROUGHLY 18Z...THOUGH LOCALLY MVFR OR IFR CONDITIONS LINGERING OVER VCNTY OF NW PLATEAU NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. 43 && PREV DISCUSSION...957 PM MST SAT JAN 31 2015... .UPDATE... QUICK ZFP UPDATE TO INCREASE AREAL COVERAGE OF FOG/FREEZING FOG TONIGHT...AND TRIM POPS ESPECIALLY FOR AFTER MIDNIGHT...ALTHOUGH PROBABLY HAVE NOT TRIMMED ENOUGH. LATEST GUIDANCE ALSO SUGGESTS SOME OVERNIGHT LOWS MAY BE A BIT TOO LOW BUT DID NOT MAKE ANY ADJUSTMENTS. && .PREV DISCUSSION...331 PM MST SAT JAN 31 2015... .SYNOPSIS... RAIN AND SNOW CHANCES WILL DIMINISH OVERNIGHT...EXCEPT FOR ACROSS THE SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS AND NEAR RATON PASS WHERE ANOTHER INCH OR TWO OF ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE. BY SUNDAY...THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WEATHER OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS WILL BE WELL SOUTH OF THE AREA AND A PROLONGED WARMING TREND WILL BEGIN. EXCEPT FOR A BRIEF COOL DOWN ACROSS THE EASTERN PLAINS LATE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY...TEMPERATURES WILL GENERALLY BE ABOVE NORMAL THIS UPCOMING WEEK AS DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT PREVAILS. && .DISCUSSION... THE UPPER LOW IS CURRENTLY CONGEALING OVER THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA PER THE LATEST WATER VAPOR IMAGERY AND IS FORECAST TO CONTINUE SLOW SOUTHWARD MOVEMENT OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE TAKING A TURN TO THE EAST OVER MEXICO. SIGNIFICANT DRYING WILL FOLLOW BEHIND IT ACROSS THE DESERT SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHERN ROCKIES...WITH PWATS AT KABQ RETURNING TO NEAR NORMAL JAN/FEB VALUES. SPEAKING OF PWATS...VALUES DID SPIKE UP TO ABOVE 0.61 INCH FOR 3 UPPER AIR SOUNDINGS IN A ROW...MAXING AT 0.65 INCH AT 00Z AND YESTERDAY AT 12Z...ONLY 0.07 FROM AN ALL-TIME JANUARY RECORD AND IN-LINE WITH MODEL FORECASTS. PRECIPITATION WILL DWINDLE OVERNIGHT ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA...BUT MAY PERSIST ACROSS THE SANGRE DE CRISTOS AND ALONG THE COLORADO BORDER NEAR RATON PASS THANKS TO UPSLOPE FROM A BACKDOOR COLD FRONT. ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATION SHOULD BE IN THE 1-2 INCH RANGE AND TEMPERATURES WON'T BE COLD ENOUGH TO CAUSE MAJOR CONCERN...SO ADDITIONAL WINTER WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS WILL NOT BE REQUIRED. WILL ALLOW THE REMAINING WARNINGS TO EXPIRE AT 5 PM GIVEN ONLY VERY LIGHT PRECIPITATION ONGOING AND RELATIVE WARM TEMPERATURES. THE ONLY OTHER POTENTIAL WEATHER HAZARD WORTHY OF MENTION FOR TONIGHT IS FREEZING FOG...MOSTLY LIKELY ACROSS THE NORTHWEST PLATEAU...WEST CENTRAL PLATEAU AND UPPER/MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY...ALL CONDITIONAL ON AT LEAST PARTIAL CLEARING OVERNIGHT. FOG MAY NOT DEVELOP IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY UNTIL AROUND SUNRISE SUNDAY. A PROLONGED WARM-UP TO BEGIN TOMORROW...ALTHOUGH MUTED SOMEWHAT ACROSS THE EASTERN PLAINS THANKS TO THE BACKDOOR FRONT. TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO BE BACK TO NEAR NORMAL BY MONDAY AND THEN GO ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE END OF THE WORK WEEK WITH DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT...WITH ONE EXCEPTION. ANOTHER BACKDOOR FRONT WILL PROVIDE A SHORT-LIVED COOL DOWN TO THE EASTERN PLAINS LATE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY...BUT WELL ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES WILL RETURN BY FRIDAY INTO NEXT SATURDAY AS A LOW AMPLITUDE RIDGE TRANSVERSES THE ROCKIES AND BREEZY TO LOCALLY WINDY CONDITIONS PICKUP WITH A DEEPENING LEE SIDE TROUGH. 11 && .FIRE WEATHER... VENTILATION RATES WILL BE THE PRIMARY FIRE WEATHER CONCERN IN THE SHORT-TERM. UPPER LEVEL CLOSED LOW OVER NORTHERN SONORA WILL CONTINUE TO DROP SOUTHWARD TONIGHT. WIDESPREAD LOW CLOUDS AND/OR FOG WILL LIKELY DEVELOP AS MID CLOUDS GRADUALLY DECREASE OVERNIGHT. A WEAK BACKDOOR COLD FRONT WILL DROP INTO NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO TONIGHT...MOVING SOUTH THROUGH THE EAST-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PLAINS SUNDAY MORNING. THE FRONT WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM WARMING MUCH EAST OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN CHAIN WHILE THE WEST WARMS SLIGHTLY. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL TRANSITION OVER THE REGION SUNDAY. WEST TO NORTHWEST BREEZES WILL DEVELOP ALONG THE RIDGETOPS OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN CHAIN. ALL AREAS EXPECTED TO WARM TO ABOVE AVERAGE LEVELS MONDAY. WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE SOMEWHAT MONDAY AFTERNOON AS A WEAK UPPER LEVEL TROUGH SLIDES SEWD THROUGH ERN COLORADO. AS A RESULT...VENTILATION RATES WILL INCREASE MONDAY. AT THIS TIME...WEDNESDAY APPEARS TO BE THE BEST DAY OF THE WEEK FOR VENTILATION RATES THROUGHOUT CENTRAL AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO. RATES TREND SIGNIFICANTLY DOWNWARD THURSDAY. MODELS STILL TRYING TO SETTLE ON THE STRENGTH OF A SHORT-WAVE TROUGH DIVING SOUTHEASTWARD THROUGH COLORADO WEDNESDAY. GFS IS STRONGER THAN THE ECMWF AND BRINGS A STRONGER BACKDOOR FRONT ALONG WITH SOME LIGHT RAIN/SNOW TO THE FAR NE PLAINS WEDNESDAY EVENING. ECMWF REMAINS DRY AND ONLY BRINGS SLIGHT COOLING TO THE FAR NE PLAINS. MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL TRANSLATE EAST OVER NEW MEXICO THURSDAY INTO EARLY NEXT WEEKEND. DRY WEATHER WITH ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WILL RESULT. 33 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 544 AM MST SAT JAN 31 2015 NMZ501>540-011300- NORTHWEST PLATEAU-CHUSKA MOUNTAINS-FAR NORTHWEST HIGHLANDS- NORTHWEST HIGHLANDS-WEST CENTRAL PLATEAU-WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS- WEST CENTRAL HIGHLANDS-SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS- SAN FRANCISCO RIVER VALLEY-SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS-JEMEZ MOUNTAINS- WEST SLOPES SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS- NORTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9500 FEET/RED RIVER- SOUTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS ABOVE 9500 FEET- EAST SLOPES SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS-UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY- LOWER CHAMA RIVER VALLEY-SANTA FE METRO AREA-ALBUQUERQUE METRO AREA- LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY-SANDIA/MANZANO MOUNTAINS-ESTANCIA VALLEY- CENTRAL HIGHLANDS-SOUTH CENTRAL HIGHLANDS-UPPER TULAROSA VALLEY- SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS-RATON RIDGE/JOHNSON MESA- FAR NORTHEAST HIGHLANDS-NORTHEAST HIGHLANDS-UNION COUNTY- HARDING COUNTY-EASTERN SAN MIGUEL COUNTY-GUADALUPE COUNTY- QUAY COUNTY-CURRY COUNTY-ROOSEVELT COUNTY-DE BACA COUNTY- CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS-EASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY-SOUTHWEST CHAVES COUNTY- 544 AM MST SAT JAN 31 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT MOUNTAIN SNOW AND A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW AT LOWER ELEVATIONS WILL CONTINUE TODAY. ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL FAVOR AREAS ABOVE 7500 FEET. WINTER DRIVING CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE... ESPECIALLY AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. AREAS OF FOG AND FREEZING FOG MAY DEVELOP TONIGHT AND CONTINUE INTO SUNDAY MORNING. VISIBILITIES MAY DROP BELOW 1 MILE AT TIMES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...WEATHER CAN CHANGE VERY RAPIDLY. ALWAYS USE THE LATEST FORECASTS...WATCHES AND WARNINGS FOR PLANNING PURPOSES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS THROUGH THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/ABQ OR BY CALLING 1.888.386.7637. 34
19 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
A rancher 6 miles northeast of Folsom indicated soil conditions have dramatically improved over the area during the winter months. They were digging post holes for a fence and noted soil moisture present down at least 18 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, February 2015
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: 554777, 555756, 555757, 555759, 555760, 555761, 555762, 555763, 555764, 555765, 555766, 555767, 555768, 555769, 555770, 555771, 555773, 555774, 555775.