An upper low to the west of the region combined with west winds brought in moisture across West Texas and southeast New Mexico. Easterly upslope winds continued allowing for abundant moisture and rainfall chances across southeast New Mexico.
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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 MAF wrote it up.
An upper low to the west of the region combined with west winds brought in moisture across West Texas and southeast New Mexico. Easterly upslope winds continued allowing for abundant moisture and rainfall chances across southeast New Mexico. Rainfall over the past several days had also lead to saturated soils and left some areas vulnerable to flash flooding. Thunderstorms developed in the higher terrain with upper level support for organized storms to produce heavy rain and flash flooding that continued into the night.
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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 1:33 AM MST, 5 hours 49 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Midland/Odessa TX 333 AM CDT WED AUG 31 2016 .DISCUSSION... Seeing a bit of lull in precip overnight tonight with just some light rain moving across portions of southeast New Mexico and Permian Basin. Today, we begin to see a slight change in the upper pattern as a weak upper ridge over OK/north TX region begins to shift SW over the area. It looks as though easterly/upslope flow will continue in low and mid levels, keeping abundant moisture in place the next several days as well as fairly decent rain chances across the region. Unfortunately, best chances for heavy rain and localized flooding will remain over southeast New Mexico, Guadalupe Mountains, upper Trans Pecos and NW Permian Basin today, where flash flooding has been of some concern the last few days. Given that widespread flooding is not expected, decided to go ahead and cancel the Flash Flood Watch for the entire forecast area. Temperatures will be similar or maybe a degree or two warmer than what we saw on Tuesday with highs ranging from the upper 70s across SE NM and the mountain regions to the mid/upper 80s elsewhere. Rain chances hang on into Thursday and Friday although coverage is expected to be lower than previous days. By the weekend, we should see a little more sun and lowering rain chances, resulting in temps returning to near normal readings with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s through early next week. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Big Spring 85 70 86 70 / 40 30 40 30 Carlsbad 78 65 79 66 / 60 50 50 40 Dryden 89 72 91 72 / 30 20 20 10 Fort Stockton 84 67 84 67 / 40 30 40 20 Guadalupe Pass 73 60 75 62 / 60 50 40 30 Hobbs 78 64 78 65 / 50 50 50 40 Marfa 77 61 79 62 / 40 30 30 20 Midland Intl Airport 85 68 85 68 / 40 40 40 30 Odessa 84 68 84 68 / 40 40 40 30 Wink 84 68 85 69 / 50 40 40 30 && .MAF Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NM...None. TX...None. && 10/27
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 534 AM CDT WED AUG 31 2016 NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-011045- GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF EDDY COUNTY-EDDY COUNTY PLAINS- NORTHERN LEA COUNTY-CENTRAL LEA COUNTY-SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY-GAINES- DAWSON-BORDEN-SCURRY-ANDREWS-MARTIN-HOWARD-MITCHELL- VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR-REEVES COUNTY AND UPPER TRANS PECOS- LOVING-WINKLER-ECTOR-MIDLAND-GLASSCOCK-WARD-CRANE-UPTON-REAGAN- DAVIS/APACHE MOUNTAINS AREA-PECOS-PRESIDIO VALLEY-MARFA PLATEAU- BIG BEND AREA-TERRELL-GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS- 534 AM CDT WED AUG 31 2016 /434 AM MDT WED AUG 31 2016/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND WESTERN TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY. HEAVY RAIN AMOUNTS WILL NOT BE AS WIDESPREAD AS HAS BEEN SEEN THE PAST FEW DAYS THOUGH ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE GREATEST THREAT IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND THE NORTHWESTERN PERMIAN BASIN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR HEAVY RAINFALL THURSDAY AND FRIDAY THOUGH RAIN CHANCES WILL BE DECREASING. ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WATCHES...WARNINGS...ADVISORIES... AND STATEMENTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MIDLAND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT /LOWER CASE/ HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/MIDLAND
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
824 AM CDT WED AUG 31 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0822 AM FLASH FLOOD ARTESIA 32.85N 104.43W
08/31/2016 EDDY NM TRAINED SPOTTER
WEST RAY AVENUE, 1.83 INCHES OF RAIN REPORTED. STREET
FLOODED CURB TO CURB 3 TO 6 INCHES DEEP.
&&
CMRThe Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 161 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:21 UTC.
1 heavy rain, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rain fell in Artesia and 1.83 inches of rain was reported on West Ray Avenue. The streets were flooded curb to curb with between three to six inches of water.
Several streets were barricaded in Artesia due to high water from heavy rainfall in the area. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, August 2016
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: 656897, 655612.