Several consecutive days of light to moderate rainfall over the steep terrain around Red River, New Mexico led to the second mudslide of the season along state road 38. Mining operations in the area exacerbate already loose and fine soils within several steep chutes that run down toward the highway.
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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 ABQ wrote it up.
Several consecutive days of light to moderate rainfall over the steep terrain around Red River, New Mexico led to the second mudslide of the season along state road 38. Mining operations in the area exacerbate already loose and fine soils within several steep chutes that run down toward the highway. Rainfall estimates in the one quarter to one half inch range after several days of rainfall led to a mudslide roughly two miles west of Red River. The roadway was closed for a couple hours while crews cleared about a 50 yard wide section of mud and debris.
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 Aug 25, 2:08 PM MST, 52 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 308 PM MDT Fri Aug 25 2017 .SYNOPSIS... The atmosphere will begin to dry out over northern and central New Mexico through the weekend. This means lessening storm coverage with the heavier rainfall amounts becoming less. Storms will tend to favor western and central areas while eastern areas dry out. A weak wind shift will provide a small increase in moisture Sunday night into Monday and increase storm coverage areawide. A fairly stagnant weather pattern is shaping up next week with the upper high firmly entrenched over the Great Basin. This means storms would continue to favor western and central areas with an occasional increase across the east. && .DISCUSSION... Latest modeling indicates little change in the overall weather theme during the next several days. Hurricane Harvey and its remnants will likely remain over Texas and provide little if any impacts...other than perhaps some drying or subsidence over eastern NM. Near term highlights will be the slow steering motion and residual moisture over SE areas. Some localized flooding will be possible across the SE plains due to the heavier rainfall rates, slow moving nature to the storms and abundant antecedent moisture conditions. Storm coverage will lessen through the weekend as the upper high establishes itself over the Great Basin and the steering flow becomes more N to S or NE to SW. Residual moisture will recycle out in the form of isol to scattered storms but the overall footprint of the heavier rain will decrease significantly compared to the past few days. Models continue to hold onto a weak cold frontal push or wind shift across the east Sunday night into Monday. This boundary will replenish some moisture lost during the weekend recycling phase and fuel additional storms Monday. Thus, the highest PoPs of the forecast period looks to be Monday into Monday night before recycling begins again. The synoptic models such as the ECMWF, Canadian and GFS continue to show differing outputs for later next week. Some of the models show more Pacific trough impacts on the Great Basin high thus altering the storm steering flow and storm coverage areas. Decided to change the extended very little in terms of PoP, weather and temps. Used a blended model and inherited grid approach. 50 && .FIRE WEATHER... Despite some drier air aloft today, showers and storms this afternoon have developed over the central and southwest higher terrain as well as the central highlands and east central plains. Wetting rain will be favored for locales near and along the central mountain chain as well as the eastern plains. Cell motion will be in a southerly direction for the rest of this afternoon and tonight. Overnight humidity recoveries will be lower over much of the northwest plateau, while low temperatures tonight are not quite as cold and remain above average. High pressure aloft continues to develop over the Great Basin the next several days. Steering flow for storms will shift so that movement will be from northeast to southwest, therefore the eastern plains will become less favored for wetting rainfall Saturday and into Sunday, with isolated to scattered showers and storms featured for the western and central mountains over the weekend. High temperatures over the weekend will be within a few degrees of average. Mostly good vent rates forecast Saturday with some areas of poor rates northwest and east central. Vent rates improve Sunday and will be good to excellent for all but isolated areas in the far northwest. A front remains on schedule to impact the east and central Sunday night into Monday, which will increase precipitation chances over most of northern and central New Mexico. The upper high center is forecast to linger over the Great Basin until around the middle of next week, when an upper trough moving into the PacNW and CA coast shoves the high center into the Four Corners region. Therefore Tuesday through Thursday will feature fewer showers and storms mainly central and west. Late next week, a return to northwest flow could result in more active weather but confidence is relatively low how the upper air pattern transitions. Winds look to remain light, with the exception of in the vicinity of showers and thunderstorms, and the gap wind anticipated into the Rio Grande Valley Sunday night. && .AVIATION... 18Z TAF CYCLE Isold MVFR cigs persisting over far east central NM at 17Z should continue to improve by 20Z. Upper high center to be over Four Corners/Great Basin by 26/12Z. Tstms developing at 17Z over the central and swrn higher terrain as well as the east central and se plains becoming more numerous thru 23Z as they drift to the south and southeast. Brief heavy rain and small hail may result in localized MVFR cigs/vsbys with mt obscurations with the stronger storms. Wind gusts to 40 kt also possible with storms. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 59 90 59 91 / 0 5 10 20 Dulce........................... 50 82 49 83 / 10 10 20 20 Cuba............................ 54 81 55 82 / 20 20 20 20 Gallup.......................... 52 86 54 86 / 0 10 10 20 El Morro........................ 51 80 51 81 / 0 20 10 20 Grants.......................... 53 84 53 84 / 0 20 10 20 Quemado......................... 53 80 55 82 / 5 10 10 20 Glenwood........................ 61 85 62 88 / 10 30 20 20 Chama........................... 48 77 48 77 / 20 30 20 30 Los Alamos...................... 55 80 57 81 / 10 10 10 20 Pecos........................... 53 79 54 81 / 20 20 10 20 Cerro/Questa.................... 48 76 50 77 / 5 10 10 20 Red River....................... 43 68 44 69 / 10 20 10 30 Angel Fire...................... 42 73 42 74 / 20 20 10 20 Taos............................ 49 81 50 82 / 5 10 10 20 Mora............................ 49 76 50 78 / 30 10 10 20 Espanola........................ 57 87 59 87 / 10 10 10 10 Santa Fe........................ 55 79 57 81 / 20 20 10 20 Santa Fe Airport................ 56 84 57 84 / 10 10 10 20 Albuquerque Foothills........... 60 87 61 88 / 10 10 10 10 Albuquerque Heights............. 63 87 64 88 / 10 5 10 10 Albuquerque Valley.............. 63 89 63 91 / 10 5 5 10 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 62 88 62 89 / 10 5 10 10 Los Lunas....................... 62 90 61 92 / 10 5 5 10 Rio Rancho...................... 61 89 62 90 / 10 5 10 10 Socorro......................... 64 87 65 89 / 10 5 5 10 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 56 82 56 83 / 10 10 10 10 Tijeras......................... 57 83 57 85 / 10 10 10 10 Moriarty/Estancia............... 55 82 55 83 / 10 5 10 10 Clines Corners.................. 55 78 54 81 / 20 10 10 10 Gran Quivira.................... 56 81 57 82 / 10 10 5 10 Carrizozo....................... 59 81 59 83 / 20 10 5 10 Ruidoso......................... 55 73 55 75 / 20 20 10 20 Capulin......................... 53 79 53 81 / 20 10 5 10 Raton........................... 53 82 53 83 / 20 10 5 10 Springer........................ 54 83 54 85 / 20 5 5 10 Las Vegas....................... 52 77 52 79 / 20 10 10 10 Clayton......................... 59 83 59 85 / 20 5 0 10 Roy............................. 57 80 56 84 / 20 5 5 10 Conchas......................... 63 85 63 89 / 20 5 5 5 Santa Rosa...................... 61 84 61 87 / 20 5 5 5 Tucumcari....................... 63 87 62 90 / 20 20 5 5 Clovis.......................... 63 81 62 84 / 30 20 10 5 Portales........................ 64 81 62 84 / 30 20 10 5 Fort Sumner..................... 64 83 63 86 / 30 20 10 5 Roswell......................... 67 85 66 88 / 30 20 10 5 Picacho......................... 61 80 60 82 / 20 20 10 10 Elk............................. 58 75 57 77 / 30 20 10 10 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 50
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 234 AM MDT Fri Aug 25 2017 NMZ501>540-261100- 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- 234 AM MDT Fri Aug 25 2017 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of north and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Though fewer in number, showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop this afternoon across the high terrain. Locally heavy rainfall and flooding are possible as steering flow remains light. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday A downtrend in storm coverage will continue through the weekend, but storm coverage may increase on Monday thanks to a back door front. Locally heavy rainfall will be possible once again. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report rainfall amounts and flooding 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. 34
The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 213 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:58 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A mudslide closed state road 38 two miles west of Red River.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, August 2017
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: 710124.