A continued very moist pattern remained across the Borderland and brought a third day of heavy rain to the La Union area which over the course of 3 days received over 7 inches of rainfall. In addition, flash flooding was reported near White Sands Missile Range and the Mayhill area.
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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 EPZ wrote it up.
A continued very moist pattern remained across the Borderland and brought a third day of heavy rain to the La Union area which over the course of 3 days received over 7 inches of rainfall. In addition, flash flooding was reported near White Sands Missile Range and the Mayhill 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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 13, 10:40 PM MST, 3 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service El Paso TX/Santa Teresa NM 1140 PM MDT Fri Aug 13 2021 ...Updated for 06Z TAF Discussion... .AVIATION...06Z TAF CYCLE Most of the heavy rain has finished for the evening, but there are and will continue to be plenty of off and on showers through the overnight hours. The low ceilings will continue through tonight and into tomorrow, generally we will see BKN040-060 but in some of the showers we could see some brief lower ceilings. Surface winds tonight will be from the east or southeast at less than 10 knots, but during the day tomorrow we will see outflow boundaries create some strong outflow gusty winds which could impact some of the area airports. We will see a good chance for showers and thunderstorms again on Saturday, but higher ceilings and lower rain chances will arrive by late in the evening. && .PREV DISCUSSION...244 PM MDT Fri Aug 13 2021... .SYNOPSIS... Plenty of monsoonal moisture is hanging around the area today and will stay until at least Sunday when drier air starts to make its way in from the north. Plentiful moisture in the atmosphere coupled with slow moving storm motions is creating a flash flooding risk for the weekend. A flash flood watch remains in effect through Saturday evening. By early next week, drier air has made its way into the region and things do seem to taper off and become less precipitation intensive and moreso garden variety showers for the coming week. Temperatures will be below average for the weekend into next week only reaching into the low 80s and will gradually increase throughout the coming week. && .DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM...Tonight and Saturday... Lots of moisture around and a moderately unstable atmosphere in place as evidenced by the early onset of showers and thunderstorms over the lowlands. Radar and Satellite indicate counter-clockwise rotation over the LRU/ELP region. Storms have generally developed all around this low, nothing right under it...yet. Expect another day like yesterday with widespread showers and thunderstorms through the evening with locally heavy rain and flash flooding being the main threat due to slow storm motion and the threat for some training and warm rain processes. Definitely could see more localized 1-3" rainfall amounts through 12Z Sat as the upper low remains in the vicinity with storms will likely lingering through the night. Little change for Saturday with SW-NE elongated trough remaining over the area. There will again be plenty of cloud cover and may be tougher to get much solar isolation, but the lift provided by the low should keep chances for rain going all day. High temperatures for most areas will struggle to get out of the 70s. PW's will remain around 1.6" which is near record levels for this time of the year. Given the rainfall over the last 24 hours and what is expected tonight, will extend the Flash Flood Watch until 06Z Sun. && .LONG TERM... By Saturday evening, plenty of monsoonal moisture is continuing to be advected into the CWA from the Gulf of Mexico leading to another evening with plenty of storm coverage and flash flooding concerns. PWAT's are still reaching impressive values ranging from around 1.5 inches to 1.7 inches which is well above average for this time of year. Plentiful moisture coupled with slow storm motions will certainly allow for any storms that form to be very efficient rain makers and stall over an area leading to flash flooding. Sunday looks to be the same story. There does seem to be some tapering off in precipitation amounts. This is due to a high pressure centered over Reno beginning to strengthen and wobble south as it starts to entrain dry air into the northern regions of the CWA. However, southern areas still seem to have good moisture. By Monday into early next week, this high pressure has made an eastward shift and drier air has made its way through much of the CWA leading to less moisture for the atmosphere to work with. Tuesday will be the same sort of "typical monsoon" type of pattern. By Wednesday morning, this high pressure has made a quick jump and is centered near the panhandle of TX allowing for the backside of the high pressure to once again bring in this swath of moisture into the region giving West Texas and the Bootheel of NM the best shot at this moisture for afternoon storms. Better moisture seems to be more widespread on Thursday and starts to entrain drier air from west to east by Friday afternoon potentially leading to lesser precipitation amounts. Maximum temperatures will continue to be below average but will continue to rise each day topping out at upper 80s/low 90s by the end of the week. && .FIRE WEATHER... Plenty of moisture across the region will continue through the weekend with the potential for additional heavy rainfall. This will keep the fire threat very low for the coming days. Temperatures over the lowlands will struggle to get out of the 70s to lower 80s through the weekend with a slow drying and warming trend going into early next week. Even with the drier air moving in, daily storm chances will continue. Light winds will keep vent rates poor to fair through the weekend. && && && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... El Paso 66 78 66 82 / 80 70 70 50 Sierra Blanca 65 75 62 76 / 70 60 50 50 Las Cruces 65 76 63 81 / 90 70 80 50 Alamogordo 63 77 63 82 / 80 80 70 50 Cloudcroft 47 57 47 60 / 80 80 70 70 Truth or Consequences 65 77 62 82 / 80 80 70 40 Silver City 58 70 59 75 / 90 80 80 60 Deming 64 77 63 82 / 90 80 80 50 Lordsburg 66 77 64 81 / 90 80 80 50 West El Paso Metro 66 79 67 83 / 80 70 80 50 Dell City 65 77 64 80 / 70 60 60 50 Fort Hancock 67 82 66 84 / 80 60 60 50 Loma Linda 62 71 62 75 / 80 70 70 60 Fabens 65 78 67 83 / 80 70 70 50 Santa Teresa 65 77 65 81 / 80 70 80 50 White Sands HQ 66 75 65 81 / 90 80 70 60 Jornada Range 65 74 63 80 / 90 80 70 50 Hatch 66 75 64 80 / 90 80 80 50 Columbus 66 77 65 80 / 90 80 80 50 Orogrande 64 75 63 80 / 80 70 70 60 Mayhill 54 62 54 68 / 80 80 70 60 Mescalero 53 64 52 71 / 80 80 70 60 Timberon 52 62 52 67 / 80 80 70 70 Winston 57 70 55 75 / 80 80 70 50 Hillsboro 61 72 60 79 / 80 80 70 50 Spaceport 64 76 62 80 / 80 80 70 50 Lake Roberts 56 73 55 76 / 80 80 80 60 Hurley 59 73 59 78 / 90 80 80 60 Cliff 60 77 59 84 / 80 80 70 50 Mule Creek 58 75 60 79 / 80 80 70 50 Faywood 61 71 60 76 / 90 80 80 60 Animas 62 75 63 81 / 90 80 80 50 Hachita 63 77 62 79 / 90 80 80 50 Antelope Wells 63 76 63 81 / 90 80 80 60 Cloverdale 61 70 60 76 / 90 80 80 60 && .EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NM...Flash Flood Watch through Saturday evening for NMZ401>417. TX...Flash Flood Watch through Saturday evening for TXZ418>424. && 99/99/15
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service El Paso TX/Santa Teresa NM 1111 AM MDT Fri Aug 13 2021 NMZ401>417-TXZ418>424-141730- Upper Gila River Valley-Southern Gila Highlands/Black Range- Southern Gila Foothills/Mimbres Valley- Southwest Desert/Lower Gila River Valley-Lowlands of the Bootheel- Uplands of the Bootheel-Southwest Desert/Mimbres Basin- Eastern Black Range Foothills-Sierra County Lakes- Northern Dona Ana County-Southern Dona Ana County/Mesilla Valley- Central Tularosa Basin-Southern Tularosa Basin- West Slopes Sacramento Mountains Below 7500 Feet- Sacramento Mountains Above 7500 Feet- East Slopes Sacramento Mountains Below 7500 Feet-Otero Mesa- Western El Paso County-Eastern/Central El Paso County- Northern Hudspeth Highlands/Hueco Mountains-Salt Basin- Southern Hudspeth Highlands- Rio Grande Valley of Eastern El Paso/Western Hudspeth Counties- Rio Grande Valley of Eastern Hudspeth County- 1111 AM MDT Fri Aug 13 2021 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of south central New Mexico, southwest New Mexico, and southwest Texas. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected again through tonight. Again the main threat will be heavy rain and the potential for flash flooding. Numerous areas received 1 to 3 inches of rain yesterday and these areas will be especially susceptible to flash flooding today. A couple of the strongest storms may also have small hail and wind gusts to 50 mph. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday The flash flooding threat will continue at least through Saturday as plenty of moisture remains in the area and slow moving storms will again be possible. Some drier air will start to filter in starting Sunday, but the threat for showers and thunderstorms will continue daily. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters should report heavy rain and flash flooding to local law enforcement and to the NWS office via our 800 spotter number or via Twitter using our username @NWSElPaso. 26
The Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 70 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:32 UTC.
3 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Highway 70 was closed due to water running across the road at mile marker 174 as well as across the White Sands Missile Range Headquarters Road. The center median eroded due to the running water. A spotter reported 4.67 inches of rain in the 24 hour period ending at 6pm on 8/14.
Approximately 3.5 inches of rain fell in one hour in Alamogordo.
Widespread flooding was reported across La Union due to over 7 inches of rain over the previous 3 days from just north of Domenici Highway through La Union. The Dona Ana County Emergency Manager ordered evacuations of La Union due to the flooding and possible dam breach of an earthen dam to the west of town.
The Rio Penasco River came out of it's banks from just east of Mayhill into Chaves County with widespread flooding across the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, August 2021
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: 983694, 983695, 983692, 983697.