December had below normal precipitation again across southwestern New Mexico which kept the area in Severe(D2) to Extreme(D3) drought conditions.
Every event with a place to put it; 9 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 EPZ wrote it up.
December had below normal precipitation again across southwestern New Mexico which kept the area in Severe(D2) to Extreme(D3) 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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 30, 10:55 PM MST, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service El Paso TX/Santa Teresa NM 1055 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 .AVIATION...06Z TAF CYCLE VFR through the period with FEW-SCT200-250. Winds light and at times variable, favoring drainage in terrain areas through the rest of tonight. Wind values generally under 8 KTs. Additionally, dry with no VIS restrictions. && .PREV DISCUSSION...158 PM MST Tue Nov 30 2021... .SYNOPSIS... Generally dry with above normal temperatures through the weekend a across the Borderland. A few showers could affect the southern zones this weekend, but any rainfall amounts should be light. Warm temperatures continue early next week, but an approaching storm system could bring some changing weather to the area by midweek. && .DISCUSSION... .SHORT TERM... Currently, the visible satellite imagery shows few high clouds moving from south to north across the Borderland with majority of the area mostly sunny. Quiet weather is expected for the rest of the afternoon with the winds mainly light and variable and the temperatures on the warm side. Overnight, an upper level low will wobble across the deep southwest near the Baja California area that will send some weak energy in the form of clouds up from Mexico into the CWA. Expect mid to high level passing clouds during the overnight hours with the low temperatures on Wednesday morning well above the normal due to limited radiational cooling. The winds will continue to be light and variable for most areas. For Wednesday, this upper level low will continue to linger across the same aforementioned area that will cause our weather to be similar to that of today. An upper level ridge of high pressure will be centered across Nevada keeping this low across the deep Southwest. This will allow for the high temperatures on Wednesday to be in the upper 60s and lower 70s with the winds mainly light and from the north. There will be no significant changes to the weather on Wednesday. && .LONG TERM... Long term starts out quiet with good agreement among models. To start the period, upper low currently off the Baja Coast slowly lifts north and then going into the weekend gets pushed east through the region as another low moves in to replace it. Not seeing any low level moisture getting tapped with this pattern and should see nothing more than some mid and high clouds from time to time. Temperatures through Friday will not change much with highs across the lowlands in the upper 60s to mid 70s and lows in the mid 30s to mid 40s. For Sat through Tue, as the initial upper low moves out of the area, another upper low moves into northwest Mexico and then retrogrades to the southwest. Some model differences show up with handling of this next low. GFS is now trending toward the EC solution and GFS Ensemble mean is even closer to the operational EC which keeps low off the southern Baja coast through at least 12Z Tue. There will be a period of easterly low level winds Sun into early Mon which could combine with being in stretching deformation zone and bring a few showers to southern zones. Operational and ensembles have been trending drier and cut down NBM pops from 20-30 down to around 10 for mainly southeast zones closer to this favorable deformation area. Temperatures will cool down a little into the mid 60s to around 70 for the weekend with the more easterly low level winds. For Monday through Tuesday, will continue going closer to the EC solution which keeps upper low off Baja coast and we come under the influence of the northwesterly flow aloft which could bring some breezy conditions, especially Tuesday. There is a fairly potent trough advertised by the models moving in from the Pacific Northwest into the Great Basin with the GFS faster and therefore much cooler than the EC. GEFS mean is much closer to EC again with temperatures and pattern, so went above NBM and MEX Guidance temps for Tue as increasing westerly winds should allow for nice warming and highs warming back into the lower to mid 70s. EC temps would actually support some highs getting into the upper 70s, which is above record highs, so will not go that warm right now. It does look like that trough could start bringing precipitation in from the northwest Tue night and did keep in the low NBM pops. && .FIRE WEATHER... Mostly dry and warm conditions are expected today and through the rest of the week. The temperatures will be above the climatological normal with the winds generally light. Not expecting much in the way of any precipitation; however, any precipitation that does take place will be towards the latter half of the weekend and will be mainly light. The min RH's will be in the teens in the mountains and between 20-30% in the lowlands on Wednesday. The moisture will increase slightly by the latter half of the weekend that will cause the min RH's to be between 25-40% in the mountains while the min RH's in the lowlands remain unchanged. The ventilation rates will be mostly poor on Wednesday then poor to good the rest of the week. && && && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... El Paso 41 71 45 74 / 0 0 0 0 Sierra Blanca 40 67 49 72 / 0 0 0 0 Las Cruces 36 70 40 73 / 0 0 0 0 Alamogordo 35 71 38 73 / 0 0 0 0 Cloudcroft 30 54 36 54 / 0 0 0 0 Truth or Consequences 38 68 39 70 / 0 0 0 0 Silver City 40 66 42 66 / 0 0 0 0 Deming 35 70 38 73 / 0 0 0 0 Lordsburg 35 70 37 73 / 0 0 0 0 West El Paso Metro 44 70 44 74 / 0 0 0 0 Dell City 33 70 40 75 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Hancock 39 73 44 78 / 0 0 0 0 Loma Linda 42 65 42 69 / 0 0 0 0 Fabens 39 71 43 75 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Teresa 36 68 41 72 / 0 0 0 0 White Sands HQ 44 70 44 73 / 0 0 0 0 Jornada Range 34 68 34 72 / 0 0 0 0 Hatch 34 70 39 74 / 0 0 0 0 Columbus 39 68 41 72 / 0 0 0 0 Orogrande 37 68 43 72 / 0 0 0 0 Mayhill 34 66 38 66 / 0 0 0 0 Mescalero 31 64 33 63 / 0 0 0 0 Timberon 31 61 32 63 / 0 0 0 0 Winston 28 65 32 67 / 0 0 0 0 Hillsboro 40 67 43 70 / 0 0 0 0 Spaceport 34 68 36 70 / 0 0 0 0 Lake Roberts 31 67 22 67 / 0 0 0 0 Hurley 33 68 35 69 / 0 0 0 0 Cliff 25 74 26 70 / 0 0 0 0 Mule Creek 36 68 25 68 / 0 0 0 0 Faywood 39 67 42 69 / 0 0 0 0 Animas 36 70 37 72 / 0 0 0 0 Hachita 35 68 38 72 / 0 0 0 0 Antelope Wells 40 67 39 70 / 0 0 0 0 Cloverdale 44 66 42 68 / 0 0 0 0 && .EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NM...None. TX...None. && 99/99/99
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service El Paso TX/Santa Teresa NM 544 AM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 NMZ401>417-TXZ418>424-011245- 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- 544 AM MST Tue Nov 30 2021 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of south central New Mexico, southwest New Mexico, and southwest Texas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed. 37
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The entire zone remained in Severe(D2) drought though December. The Cooperative Observer at Buckhorn received 0.82 inches of precipitation which was 0.47 inches below normal.
Severe(D2) drought continued through the month across the entire zone. The Gila Hot Springs Cooperative Observer reported 0.81 inches of precipitation which was 0.36 inches below normal.
Severe(D2) drought continued through December across the entire zone.
The entire zone remained in Severe(D2) drought through December. The White Signal Cooperative Observer reported 1.08 inches of precipitation which was 0.42 inches below normal.
Severe(D2) drought continued across the zone except for the far southeast where it remained in Moderate(D1) drought conditions. The Antelope Wells Cooperative Observer reported 0.85 inches of precipitation which was 0.21 inches below normal.
The entire zone remained in Severe(D2) drought through the month.
Severe(D2) drought continued through the month. The Deming Airport recorded 0.45 inches of precipitation which was 0.27 inches below normal.
Extreme(D3) drought remained in place across all areas of the zone except the far north where Severe(D2) drought continued. The Cooperative Observer at Hillsboro recorded 0.11 inches of precipitation which was 0.76 inches below normal.
Extreme(D3) drought continued over the far western part of the zone while the remainder of the zone remained in Severe(D2) drought. The Truth or Consequences Airport reported 0.11 inches below normal which was 0.49 inches below normal.
The western half of the zone remained in Severe(D2) drought while the eastern half was in Moderate(D1) drought.
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, December 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: 998021, 998022, 998023, 998024, 998025, 998026, 998027, 998028, 998030, 998031.