Widespread severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of August 2018 continued through September 2018 despite more rounds of showers and thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall. Severe drought conditions covered nearly 60 percent of the state, of which around 32 percent was deemed extreme drought or worse.
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.
Widespread severe to extreme drought conditions at the end of August 2018 continued through September 2018 despite more rounds of showers and thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall. Severe drought conditions covered nearly 60 percent of the state, of which around 32 percent was deemed extreme drought or worse. Exceptional drought continued around 15 percent of New Mexico. Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms occurred throughout the month, especially around the higher terrain of central New Mexico, the Rio Grande Valley, and eastern New Mexico. Widespread rainfall amounts of one to three inches occurred across central and eastern New Mexico with less than one inch across the west. The Four Corners region remained mostly dry during September 2018 with no improvement to exceptional drought conditions.
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 31, 10:43 PM MST, 1 hour 17 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1143 PM MDT Fri Aug 31 2018 .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE Showers and thunderstorms will persist through the overnight hours across central and northern NM. Brief heavy rain is possible which may result in MVFR vsbys. Wind gusts near 30kts are possible as well. Much of this activity should diminish by sunrise, though storms will be quick to initiate again Saturday afternoon as an upper level trough crosses the state. Widespread thunderstorms are expected and MVFR cigs/vsbys are possible. A few severe thunderstorms with hail and damaging wind gusts are possible during the aftn/eve across eastern NM as well. Storms will linger well into the overnight hours once again. 34 && .PREV DISCUSSION...226 PM MDT Fri Aug 31 2018... .SYNOPSIS... Much more active weather pattern commences today and continues well into next week. The upper high has shifted east allowing some deeper moisture to move north into NM. A good looking short wave trough centered along northern CA/northwest NV borders will help draw the moisture into our state through Saturday. Troughiness will remain over the west through early next while high pressure is centered well to our east. This will assure the continuation of widespread showers and thunderstorms well into next week, before a drying trend begins late next week into the weekend. && .DISCUSSION... Showers and thunderstorms are continuing to develop across western and central NM this afternoon, with that trend continuing though the evening. Unlike most nights, the convection will continue past midnight and probably into Saturday morning, with Saturday afternoon being quite active, compliments of the short wave trough moving into the Great Basin. Sunday will probably be a bit less active as the trough exits to our east. The next upstream trough will approach Monday and again increase our coverage of showers and thunderstorms early next week. The rest of next week will remain active in the southeast half of our CWA while some drying begins in the northwest half. CHJ && .FIRE WEATHER... PWATs continue to trend up as the upper high pulls further away from New Mexico to the east and a shortwave trough approaches from the northwest. With the uptrend in moisture comes an increase in both storm coverage and wetting footprint, which will jump-up significantly on Saturday. This is especially true for the eastern plains, which will have rounds of wetting storms for several days in a row as a secondary shortwave trough slows-up and closes off an upper low over Arizona going into Monday. With the added moisture and rain-cooling comes below normal daytime temperatures, which looks to be the case through at least the middle of next week as daily rounds of wetting storms continue. The primary beneficiaries look to be central and eastern New Mexico. The upper high over the eastern Pacific is forecast to build east over the Desert Southwest and New Mexico late next week into next weekend, leading to a warming/drying trend. && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 300 AM MDT Fri Aug 31 2018 NMZ501>540-011200- 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- 300 AM MDT Fri Aug 31 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of north and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight As showers and thunderstorms increase in number and areal coverage tonight, a few could produce locally heavy rainfall which could lead to isolated flooding. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday A trend toward cooler and wetter weather is expected for the Labor Day holiday weekend. Showers and thunderstorms will be scattered to numerous Saturday through Labor Day with potential for a few of them to produce locally heavy rain which could lead to flash flooding. A drying and warming trend could commence by the middle of next week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report rainfall amounts and any impacts 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.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
702 PM MDT FRI AUG 31 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0651 PM TSTM WND GST 5 S ALBUQUERQUE 35.04N 106.62W
08/31/2018 M66 MPH BERNALILLO NM ASOS
KABQ ASOS.
&&
EVENT NUMBER ABQ201800829
DAK37 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018 for areas around Gallup.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018 for western Curry County. The far eastern portion of the county was abnormally dry.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018 for western Quay County. The far eastern portion of the county was abnormally dry in September.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018 for western Union County. The far eastern portion of the county was abnormally dry.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued to improve to severe drought for parts of the area through September 2018. Locations within western San Miguel County improved to moderate drought through September.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Exceptional drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme drought conditions improved to severe drought for parts of the area through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018. Parts of far southern Torrance County improved to moderate drought in September.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018. The southeastern part of Harding County improved to moderate drought in September.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme to severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018. Northern Guadalupe County improved to moderate drought in September.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued to improve to severe drought for the eastern half of the county through September 2018. Parts of eastern Roosevelt County improved from severe drought to moderate drought through September 2018, and parts of the far eastern county improved to abnormally dry.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions over parts of the area from August improved to moderate drought through September 2018.
Extreme drought conditions from August continued through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August improved to moderate drought for parts of the area through September 2018.
Severe drought conditions from August continued through September 2018. Parts of the area worsened from moderate to severe drought in September.
Severe drought conditions from August improved to moderate drought for parts of the area in September 2018.
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, September 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: 777866, 777867, 777868, 777869, 777870, 777871, 777872, 777873, 777874, 777875, 777876, 777877, 777878, 777879, 777880, 777881, 778090, 778091, 778092, 778093, 778094, 778095, 778096, 778097, 778098, 778099, 778100, 778101, 778102, 778103, 778104, 778105, 778106, 778107, 778108, 778110, 778111.