Showers and thunderstorms developed over far southeastern Colorado during the late afternoon on June 24th then shifted southeast across northeastern New Mexico through the evening. Hail, strong winds, and heavy rainfall were reported with these storms over Union, Harding, and Quay counties.
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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.
Showers and thunderstorms developed over far southeastern Colorado during the late afternoon on June 24th then shifted southeast across northeastern New Mexico through the evening. Hail, strong winds, and heavy rainfall were reported with these storms over Union, Harding, and Quay counties. The strongest storms occurred over Union County where ping pong ball size hail was reported near Des Moines.
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 24, 4:48 PM MST, 12 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 548 PM MDT Sun Jun 24 2018 .AVIATION... 00Z TAF CYCLE A challenging forecast across the east where outflow boundaries from active convection along the NM/CO border will help kick down a backdoor front tonight. Arrival of the front will first reach to KTCC by 03Z-04Z, KLVS by 05Z, KROW by 07Z, and wrapping around the Sangre de Cristo's into KSAF by 09Z. The front will squirt through the central mtn chain bringing gap wind gusts above 20kts to KABQ after 09Z to around sunrise. Low clouds are once again a likelihood at eastern TAF sites, including KTCC, KCVN, KCVS, and KCAO. Confidence is not very high at this time to include any MVFR cigs. Winds shift out of the south across the east tomorrow, with westerly winds mixing down across western and central NM. 24 && .PREV DISCUSSION...320 PM MDT Sun Jun 24 2018... .SYNOPSIS... An upper level low pressure system is slowly moving off of the central Rockies and into the central plains of the nation. This feature is bringing some breezy to windy conditions to portions of New Mexico today. Dry conditions and hot temperatures are in place over most of the state, but a surface boundary from decaying thunderstorms did move into northeastern and east central New Mexico, keeping temperatures cooler along with higher humidity. In addition a cold front is expected to drop out of Colorado and into eastern New Mexico later this evening and tonight. This will produce showers and thunderstorms, mostly over the northeastern corner of New Mexico with a few strong to severe storms possible. Gusty winds will accompany the previously mentioned cold front as it slides down the plains and then advances west into the Rio Grande valley tonight. Temperatures will run a few to several degrees cooler in central to eastern New Mexico Monday, before warming up through the middle of the week. Low precipitation chances are expected through mid week with high terrain areas in southern New Mexico being most likely to observe an isolated storm. && .DISCUSSION... Early morning synoptic models were struggling with forecast details over northeastern NM as the outflow boundary from the decaying MCS over OK moved into our area earlier. This has kept some low clouds in place over northeast NM with a more moist easterly flow also expanding over northeast and even east central parts of our forecast area. This outflow boundary stunted destabilization, but current LAPS analysis shows increasing instability, and satellite trends reveal the cumulus field along and just east of the Sangres is gaining more vertical development. Latest 19Z HRRR shows the real action arriving with the back door cold front this evening, likely favoring Union county. This seems plausible, but would also not be surprised if a stray storm or two roll off of the Sangres prior to the front's arrival. Healthy deep layer shear, high 0-3 km helicity will be in place over northeast NM, keeping an elevated risk for strong to severe storms, and SPC has expanded the enhanced risk into our far northeastern zones. The front, likely aided by convective outflow, will spill westward into the Rio Grande valley tonight with gusty canyon winds ensuing near Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The front will bring a brief uptick in dewpoints/relative humidity to central zones, but veering surface winds by Monday afternoon should mix the moisture back just east of the central mountain chain. Any prospects for storms would be low and confined to the south central mountains and points east. Temperatures would be notably cooler in the eastern half of the state, and no need for heat advisories is expected, at least for Monday. High pressure aloft would be drawn closer to NM on Tuesday. Surface winds would struggle to retain the south southeasterly direction in the plains, and consequently the low level moisture will struggle to hold on through the afternoon. Again, the best prospects would be over the higher terrain of Lincoln county with chances quickly falling off farther west, north and east of there. Temperatures would start to climb back up, surpassing late June averages by 5 to 10 degrees. By Wednesday, the dome of high pressure aloft will establish itself more directly over NM, allowing subsidence to increase with rising pressure heights and temperatures. Triple digit readings will be more common in the valleys and eastern plains Wednesday. The GFS indicates some faint mid level moisture will make it to the southwestern and south central mountains, but suspect this would be more of the virga or dry thunderstorm variety, as surface dewpoints would not support any true wetting precipitation. The GFS continues this trend of expanding meager mid level subtropical moisture northward into more of NM through week's end. There is skepticism that any meaningful increase in the probabilities of precipitation is warranted, as again the boundary layer moisture will be lacking. The GFS is also more amplified with a western U.S. trough that would aid the "squeeze" of mid level moisture northward into NM, whereas the European carries a dampened trough into the northern Rockies toward the weekend. For now, mostly slight chance POPs have been built into the extended forecast, generally favoring high terrain areas south of I-40. 52 && .FIRE WEATHER... ...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO... The base of the trough moving through southern CO this afternoon has produced a band of stronger winds aloft across northern NM. West winds 15 to 20 mph across northwest and north central NM this afternoon and early evening will combine with low relative humidity and an unstable atmosphere to produce critical fire weather conditions in FWZ101 and FWZ102. A back door cold front will move quickly across the eastern plains tonight and reach the central mountains by around dawn. Increasing moisture behind the back door cold front will result in good to excellent relative humidity recovery east of the central mountains tonight. Northwest flow aloft will bring drier air across northern and central NM Monday. Relative humidity Monday afternoon will fall into the single digits across western NM, but relative humidity across the eastern plains will be in the upper teens and 20's. High pressure aloft will move over western NM Monday afternoon, and winds will be less than 15 mph, except 15 to 20 mph across the northeast highlands. Haines values will be low across the eastern plains and moderate to high across the rest of the area Monday afternoon. Strong high pressure aloft will settle over NM Tuesday through Thursday with light winds, low to very low relative humidity, above normal daytime temperatures and unstable atmospheric conditions. Models are not in agreement on the longer term forecast for Friday through Sunday. The GFS moves the upper level high to the east and shows an increasing tap of subtropical moisture from northern Mexico moving northward across NM, while the ECMWF keep a drier west flow over NM. 28 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 7 PM MDT this evening for the following zones... NMZ101-102. Heat Advisory until 9 PM MDT this evening for the following zones... NMZ538. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 342 AM MDT Sun Jun 24 2018 NMZ501>540-251100- 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- 342 AM MDT Sun Jun 24 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of north and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight There is a marginal to slight risk of severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening in far northeast New Mexico where large hail and damaging winds will be possible. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday No hazardous weather is expected at this time. However, weather can change very rapidly. Always use the latest forecasts, watches and warning for planning purposes. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be required in far northeast New Mexico between 2 pm and 9 pm this afternoon and evening due to strong to severe thunderstorms. 40
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
457 PM MDT SUN JUN 24 2018
NMZ527-242330-
Raton Ridge/Johnson Mesa-
457 PM MDT SUN JUN 24 2018
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHWESTERN UNION AND
NORTHEASTERN COLFAX COUNTIES UNTIL 530 PM MDT...
At 457 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 7
miles east of Sugarite, or 11 miles northeast of Raton, moving
southeast at 30 mph.
Dime size hail and winds in excess of 40 mph will be possible with
this storm.
Locations impacted include...
Sugarite and Sugarite Canyon State Park.
This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor your preferred
media outlets and NOAA Weather Radio for additional information and
possible warnings from the National Weather Service.
Accumulations of small hail on roads can create very slick and
hazardous driving conditions.
&&
LAT...LON 3672 10401 3691 10436 3693 10436 3693 10438
3692 10438 3696 10446 3700 10441 3700 10387
TIME...MOT...LOC 2257Z 297DEG 26KT 3695 10424
CAThe Pueblo radar (KPUX), 186 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:00 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail up to the size of ping pong balls fell a few miles northwest of Des Moines.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, June 2018
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: 753668.