An unseasonably strong upper level low pressure system continued churning nearly stationary over New Mexico and produced a second day of severe storms and flooding. A persistent area of very heavy rainfall that developed just before midnight on the 1st went on to produce significant flooding in the area from Cannon Air Force Base to Clovis.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 ABQ wrote it up.
An unseasonably strong upper level low pressure system continued churning nearly stationary over New Mexico and produced a second day of severe storms and flooding. A persistent area of very heavy rainfall that developed just before midnight on the 1st went on to produce significant flooding in the area from Cannon Air Force Base to Clovis. Widespread rainfall amounts of 3 to 4 inches were reported around Curry County. Playa lakes in the Clovis area flooded into nearby roadways causing numerous road closures. Several other low lying areas in the city were also flooded with several intersections closed. A round of strong storms later in the day on the 1st developed in the Rio Grande Valley. Hail, high winds, and heavy rainfall were reported around the Albuquerque Metro 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 Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 1, 10:46 AM MST, 59 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1146 AM MDT WED JUN 1 2016 .AVIATION... 18Z TAF CYCLE Closed upper low south of NM bootheel will continue drifting ewd through northern Mexico. Area of showers and thunderstorms over east-central NM will continue through approximately 20z. Mts occasionally obscured in lcl mvfr to ifr cigs/vsbys in clouds and precipitation. SCT convection will develop aft 18Z focused along and near the central mt chain with ISOLD drier convection and erratic wind gusts to 40kt more likely west of the contdvd. Showers and thunderstorms will diminish after sunset. 33 && .PREV DISCUSSION...343 AM MDT WED JUN 1 2016... .SYNOPSIS... A low pressure system has pushed south of Arizona into Sonora, Mexico and a surface cold front has invaded much of New Mexico. The cold front brought in some low layer moisture, and is currently stalled between the continental divide and the Arizona- New Mexico border. The low pressure system aloft will spread rising air over New Mexico where the moisture from the front will be put to use, producing scattered to widespread showers and thunderstorms for much of central to eastern sections of the state. Thunderstorms will take shape this afternoon in far western New Mexico will be more sparse with less rainfall due to dry air beneath the cloud bases. Temperatures will run some 10 to 15 degrees below normal for the first of June in central to eastern New Mexico. Temperatures will rise a few degrees each day heading into the weekend with showers and thunderstorms continuing, but with less areal coverage day-by-day. && .DISCUSSION... As the upper level low continues to take a slow track southeastward farther into Sonora and Chihuahua, an ill-defined deformation zone will set up over NM with a healthy swath of divergence aloft overtaking the state. This will be just one more ingredient to the others that have been discussed with the current scenario, including upslope flow, unstable vertical temperature profiles, and higher dewpoints/PWATs. The central mountain chain and the east faces of the continental divide will host the best upslope flow and will be the first to destabilize this afternoon, and toward this evening the focus could shift toward the southeastern zones of NM as dynamics aloft become focused over this area. The high temperature forecast was not altered too drastically, still some 10 to 15 degrees below normal in the central to eastern zones. Into Thursday the upper low will cross just north of the Big Bend area of west TX, carrying upper dynamics away from NM. The moisture will stay put though with 40s to 50s dewpoints hanging around over central and eastern NM respectively and PWATs ranging from 0.7 to 1.1 inches across these portions of the state. With debris clouds slowly eroding, it stands to reason that the atmosphere would destabilize rather quickly Thursday afternoon, and lifted index prognoses agree with this. Storms would be most prone over the higher terrain, but light steering flow aloft may not allow storms to sustain themselves too far from their origins. Thus, highest POPs over the higher terrain fall off to the isolated category for most lower terrain zones, the exception being in the southeastern plains where moisture/instability would be more impressive. The trend of warmer temperatures would continue into Friday, and some moisture would be able to be recycled over the higher terrain, but not much beyond as drier air would begin entraining from the north. A stout ridge aloft would begin to rise over the western states by this time, steering any storms from north to south over NM, but again this flow might not be sufficient to steer storms over many lower terrain zones. A back door front will invade northeastern NM on Saturday. Forecast models depict the east slopes of the Sangres and the remainder of the northeast corner of NM as the primary recipients of any precipitation associated with the front. The ridge aloft continues to swell over the American Southwest through the weekend, allowing temperatures in western zones of NM to creep above average while the east sees some relief due to the recharge in moisture from the front and associated precipitation. 52 && .FIRE WEATHER... Little change noted in the overall trends the next few days. Upper low near and south of the NM bootheel early this morning will drift slowly east today with the low circulation becoming much larger and less well defined as it moves over southeast NM and adjacent portions of TX tonight and Thursday. Meanwhile, an upper ridge builds strongly into the Great Basin, central and southern Rockies. The best chances for wetting showers and storms through tonight will exist from the central mt chain and adjacent highlands into portions of the plains. Drier showers and storms with erratic gusty w.PREV DISCUSSION...528 AM MDT WED JUN 1 2016... .AVIATION... 12Z TAF CYCLE Upper low near and south of NM bootheel to drift to vcnty se NM next 24 hours. Area of thunderstorms over east central NM at 11Z looks to persist through 15Z or so as it propagates south and westward. mts occasionally obscured in lcl mvfr to ifr cigs/vsbys in clouds and precipitation. more widespread convection to develop aft 18Z focused over and near the central mt chain, and drier convection with erratic wind gusts to 40kt more likely west of the contdvd. &&inds will be found mainly from the contdvd to the AZ border. Cell motion will be erratic at times and driven by outflows. The proximity of the upper low circulation will also make for some variable movement with steering winds from the north and northeast over wrn NM and from the south and east over the south central and eastern NM. Due to the lighter and more variable winds and lower mixing heights in the east, vent rates today are forecast to be fair to poor over parts of the east central and north central. Highs will be below average east and central, trending toward average close to the AZ border. Thursday will begin the drying trend from west to east over the forecast area, which will become more pronounced Friday. Highs trend upward both days, to near average or above for most areas, and humidities trend downward. High haines works in from west to east and covers much of the west and central Friday. Vent rates improve to good to excellent overall Friday. Chances for wetting rain diminish and will be relegated to near and over the higher terrain by Friday. There may be a mix of wet and dry or dry convection Thursday from the contdvd to the RGV. In addition, fair to poor overnight humidity recoveries gradually spread from the AZ border towards the RGV by Friday night. The upper ridge will dominate much of the Great Basin and Rockies over the weekend. Flow across NM will vary from the northwest to northeast. This will allow for convection to drift off the CO mts and into northeast NM, as well as for fronts/outflow to move into the eastern plains, which could happen Friday night and again Saturday night. Low level moisture looks to slosh westward to the RGV but not remain deep enough for more than mainly isolated chances for wetting rain west of the central mt chain. The north central and east would likely see better chances for rain though. Most locales will be warmer than average early next week, and fair to poor overnight recoveries start to show up in pockets over the east central by next Tuesday night, while remaining widespread over the west and central. The GFS continues a drier trend with a system breaking over/through the ridge keeping NM dry and breezy through the middle of next week, and the 00Z ECMWF looks more similar to the GFS than it did 24 hrs ago. Both models deviate significantly handling nrn stream energy by late next week. && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 50
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 515 AM MDT WED JUN 1 2016 NMZ501>540-021200- 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 CRISTOS ABOVE 9500 FEET/RED RIVER- SOUTHERN SANGRE DE CRISTOS ABOVE 9500 FEET- EAST SLOPES SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS-UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY- LOWER CHAMA RIVER VALLEY-SANTA FE METRO AREA- MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY/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- 515 AM MDT WED JUN 1 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED TO WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY WITH ACTIVITY BEING CONCENTRATED OVER AND JUST EAST OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN CHAIN OF NEW MEXICO...AS WELL AS THE EAST FACES OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. A FEW STRONG STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH HAIL...GUSTY DOWNBURST WINDS...AND LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE ISOLATED TO SCATTERED EACH DAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND WITH SMALL HAIL...GUSTY DOWNBURST WINDS...AND LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT ANY HAIL...STRONG WIND GUSTS...OR RAINFALL THROUGH THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE WEB SITE AT WEATHER.GOV/ABQ OR BY CALLING 1.888.386.7637. YOU CAN ALSO SUBMIT STORM REPORTS AND PHOTOS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE OR VIA TWITTER USING THE HASHTAG NMWX. 52
The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 9 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:42 UTC.
3 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
State Road 268 closed due to severe flooding from mile marker 0 to 18 north of Melrose.
Playa lakes flooding into nearby streets and intersections. Numerous roads and intersections closed across town with 2 to 3 feet of water in some areas. A CoCoRaHS station on the north side of Clovis reported 4.17 inches of rainfall.
Cannon Air Force Base reported 4.03 inches in just over 24 hours. Flooding reported in low lying areas. No damage to structures.
Public weather station at State Road 528 and Northern Boulevard reported a peak wind gust to 60 mph.
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, June 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: 627273, 627271, 627272, 627269.