After a monsoon season that significantly helped to improve drought conditions across northern and central New Mexico, the drought improvement stalled in September 2021 as much quieter and drier conditions settled in. Drought conditions across New Mexico even worsened slightly.
Every event with a place to put it; 31 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 ABQ wrote it up.
After a monsoon season that significantly helped to improve drought conditions across northern and central New Mexico, the drought improvement stalled in September 2021 as much quieter and drier conditions settled in. Drought conditions across New Mexico even worsened slightly. Extreme drought conditions did slightly improve to about 19 percent of the state, but areas of severe drought returned to northeastern New Mexico where improvements had been made over the summer. A strong storm system did bring widespread wetting precipitation on the last day of the month which may help improve drought conditions in October 2021. Precipitation totals generally ranged from one half inch to one inch across the area with precipitation totals nearing one and one half inches across eastern New Mexico. Most of this precipitation was recorded on the last day of the month with the passing of the aforementioned storm system.
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, 11:03 PM MST, 57 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1203 AM MDT Wed Sep 1 2021 .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE As remnant moisture from former Hurricane Nora crosses on Wednesday, bands of rain and rain showers are expected with some embedded thunderstorms west of the central mountain chain. These areas will see periods of MVFR and localized IFR conditions with mountain obscurations. Further east, destabilizing morning sunshine should lead to scattered-to-numerous showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening. Flight categories will briefly improve and precipitation will decrease in coverage and intensity from the west Wednesday evening, and eventually on the eastern plains after midnight Wednesday night. However, the potential exists for areas of low clouds and fog to develop after midnight Wednesday night into Thursday morning, especially where the ground is soaked and skies try to clear. 44 && .PREV DISCUSSION...310 PM MDT Tue Aug 31 2021... .SYNOPSIS... Isolated to scattered thunderstorms will again drift off the western and central high terrain and into the lower elevations this evening. Subtropical moisture will surge into western and central New Mexico late tonight through Wednesday night, leading to increased chances for rain along with the threat for locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding. The deeper moisture and higher rainfall chances will shift southeastward Thursday and Friday as drier southwest to west winds disrupt the moisture plume and high pressure aloft builds back over New Mexico. High temperatures will rebound to near average for the Labor Day holiday weekend with isolated to scattered thunderstorms favoring the northern and western high terrain. && .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT)... Current round of convection across central and eastern NM will likely follow a normal diurnal downtrend this evening, while holding on overnight across far western NM as storms move northeast out of AZ. Moisture will increase overnight into Wednesday as a Baja Low opens up and progresses east and the ridge axis shifts east of NM, opening the door to moisture advection from the south which is forecast to result in new daily record PWATS across our area Wednesday. Widespread showers with scattered storms are forecast to progress east across our area Wednesday through Wednesday night as the low opens up and moves across the Four Corners and CO, bringing the added forcing needed to for convection to continue after the loss of daytime heating. Speaking of, daytime heating and instability on Wednesday will be limited by a moisture-loaded atmosphere with low convective temps and plenty of cloud cover. In addition, storms will be moving with moderate southwest steering flow, so training of storms will generally be needed to produce significant runoff and potential flash flooding. Otherwise, a widespread wetting rain event is expected Wednesday through Wednesday night. Highs on Wednesday will be below normal central and west due to rain-cooling and added cloud cover. Regarding the existing Flash Flood Watch, will add the Jemez Mountains given consensus 12Z model placement of higher qpf there and flashy nature of that particular forecast zone. Otherwise, will hold-off on adding the Sangre De Cristo Mountains where the NAM is the usual bullish outlier of the 12Z model solutions. LONG TERM...(THURSDAY THROUGH LABOR DAY)... Models are trending drier for northwest and north central New Mexico on Thursday as drier southwest to west winds push into the region and force the moisture plume to become oriented from southwest to northeast over the state. On Friday the upper ridge axis builds westward toward the Great Basin, stretching the moisture plume more from west to east. Therefore most models, even the NAM12, have been generating less precipitation especially on Thursday, and the high temperature forecast has warmed up a bit. Friday may see an uptick in shower and storm activity as temperatures warm a few degrees more. The upper high continues to make it's way westward over the weekend with northwest flow aloft developing over the state and high temperatures inching to near normal or above. Showers and storms over the holiday weekend appear to favor the northern and western mountains. A surface front Friday night/Saturday may nose into northeast NM but models keep the majority of the associated precipitation to our east. Another front is possible next Monday night but it appears to be dry. && .FIRE WEATHER... Critical fire weather conditions are not expected for at least the next seven days. A robust Monsoon moisture plume will develop over the area Wednesday and continue through Friday, providing good chances for wetting storms. The best shot at wetting rain will come late Wednesday through Wednesday night for much of the area. A warming/drying trend will begin late in the weekend and continue into the middle of next week as high pressure strengthens over the region. Expect a downtrend in daily rounds of wetting storms beginning this weekend, with daytime temperatures trending above normal areawide early next week. && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flash Flood Watch from 6 AM MDT Wednesday through Wednesday evening for the following zones... NMZ205>211-241. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 340 AM MDT Tue Aug 31 2021 NMZ201>241-011100- Northwest Plateau-Chuska Mountains-Far Northwest Highlands- Northwest Highlands-West Central Plateau-West Central Mountains- West Central Highlands-Southwest Mountains- San Francisco River Valley-Tusas Mountains Including Chama- Jemez Mountains-Glorieta Mesa Including Glorieta Pass- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains- East Slopes Sangre de Cristo Mountains-Upper Rio Grande Valley- Espanola Valley-Santa Fe Metro Area- Middle Rio Grande Valley/Albuquerque Metro Area- Lower Rio Grande Valley-Sandia/Manzano Mountains Including Edgewood- Estancia Valley-Central Highlands-South Central Highlands- Upper Tularosa Valley-South Central Mountains- Johnson and Bartlett Mesas Including Raton Pass- 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- San Agustin Plains and Adjacent Lowlands- 340 AM MDT Tue Aug 31 2021 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of northern and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Isolated to scattered thunderstorms will favor the western and central high terrain of New Mexico today where locally heavy downpours, small hail and gusty winds will be possible. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday A surge of deep subtropical moisture is expected to enter western New Mexico on Wednesday, spreading into more of central and eastern areas of the state by Thursday and Friday. The abundant moisture will lead to increased rainfall chances with some areas of locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding possible. Recent wildfire burn scars and any areas that receive multiple rounds of rainfall will be most susceptible to flash flooding. Scattered to numerous thunderstorms will redevelop on Saturday with the locally heavy rainfall threat persisting, however rainfall chances will reduce each day for the remainder of the holiday weekend. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report any rainfall or 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. 52
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
31 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions from August 2021 continued in September.
Severe drought conditions developed across central Union County in September 2021.
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, September 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: 977698, 977699, 977700, 977701, 977702, 977703, 977704, 977705, 977706, 977707, 977708, 977709, 977710, 977712, 977713, 977714, 977715, 977716, 977717, 977718, 977719, 977720, 977721, 977722, 977723, 977724, 977725, 977726, 977727, 977728, 977729.