Afternoon storms over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains slowly moved south across the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Burn Scar resulting in some flash flooding at Lower Rociada.
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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.
Afternoon storms over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains slowly moved south across the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Burn Scar resulting in some flash flooding at Lower Rociada.
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 16, 1:07 PM MST, 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 207 PM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023 ...New SYNOPSIS, SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, FIRE WEATHER... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 120 PM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023 Showers and thunderstorms will be concentrated over the northern half of New Mexico through the late evening as activity struggles to move from higher elevation areas to nearby valleys and plains. Thunderstorms will favor the western and central high terrain of New Mexico on Thursday with temperatures gaining a degree or two in most areas. Less shower and thunderstorm activity is forecast Friday through the weekend as monsoon moisture pushes westward into Arizona and beyond. Temperatures will hover near to slightly above average during this timeframe with many locations reaching the upper 80's and 90's each day. && .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Thursday night) Issued at 120 PM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023 The monsoon high has centered itself just south of the Four Corners area and is becoming more symmetrical or circular in form, as opposed to it's elongated orientation earlier this week. With remnant monsoon moisture trapped beneath, evidenced by a 1.03" PWAT on this morning's sounding, afternoon convection has begun over the northern mountains today. Steering flow is thus far taking storms in a clockwise fashion around the center of the higher. Cells over the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mts are drifting southward with more stationary movement over the Chuska Mts. The Flood Watch for the HPCC burn scar remains on track with current storm activity over southern sections of the burn scar. This will continue into the evening. Storms over the Jemez Mts may also bring the less sensitive Cerro Pelado burn scar into play. Convection drifting southward over areas between Santa Fe and the East Mountain Communities this evening has potential to produce an east canyon wind that pushes into ABQ. There's a low chance this east canyon wind collides with outflow boundaries pushing south or east from the Jemez or Mt. Taylor to produce a rogue isolated storm cell over the ABQ metro this evening. Thursday sees the monsoon high begin to drift east over the southern Great Plains. Mid-level dry air, currently seen getting shunted southward over TX on water vapor imagery, looks to be wrapped west over the Big Bend area then back north over TX around the center of the high. This will begin a trend down in storm chances over the eastern half of the state. Guidance is also trending down for overall storm coverage across western and northern NM, indicating lower level moisture getting scoured out and lowering convective potential. Came down a notch with PoPs as a result. Temperatures also begin warming up, reaching near heat advisory levels at Roswell again. Although the forecast high is 105F at Roswell, will let the overnight shift look one last time before a decision is made for any heat advisory issuance for the Chaves County Plains. && .LONG TERM... (Friday through Tuesday) Issued at 120 PM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023 High pressure will be centering over the Red River valley of OK-TX on Friday while an eastern Pacific low inches closer to the SoCal coast. Despite this typically favorable placement of upper level features, the aforementioned swath of drier air will be rounding the high and invading NM. This will begin to reduce storm coverage and rainfall efficiency as PWATs fall closer to 0.75 inch over much of the forecast area and the plume of deeper subtropical moisture gets shunted westward into AZ. While drier air might suggest lower specific heat capacity, the reduced pressure heights will likely offset this and high temperatures Friday will not stray far from Thursday's readings. Into the weekend, the dome of high pressure migrates northward over the Missouri River basin while the eastern Pacific low continues to wobble and loop offshore of CA. A more prominent feature will also come into the picture then in the form of a tropical cyclone (Hillary) which is modeled to trek northward over, or just west, of the Baja peninsula through Sunday. While the Colorado River basin and surrounding areas are getting pummeled with heavy rain in a very anomalously high moisture environment, NM will be left out with a pronounced dry slot sliding northward into the state Saturday before only moderating slightly into Sunday. This will really limit, if not fully shut down, convection this weekend while temperatures generally follow persistence. Southerly breezes will also turn anomalously strong (still in the breezy category in the afternoons). Into Monday and Tuesday, the upper high will remain strong, anchored over the midwestern states with east southeasterly flow aloft beginning to slowly usher in more moisture toward NM via TX and the upper Gulf. By that time the remnants of Hillary will likely have merged inland with the former eastern Pacific low. Storm chances would begin to increase toward Monday and more-so on Tuesday, but coverage is still modeled to be below climatological expectations. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1119 AM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023 Afternoon convection is just getting started over the high terrain this hour. This is where ts will develop before drifting over surrounding lower elevs today. Storms over the Sangre de Cristo Mts will tend to drift S/SE and tempo groups are in at KSAF and KLVS given their proximity to the mts. Outflow from these storms will likely bring at least an east canyon wind to KABQ this evening. Storms over western NM will be slower and more erratic in their movement. Drier and clearer conditions will lay over the eastern plains toward the TX border, although a few storms will try to drift as far as the Pecos River Valley around Guadalupe and DeBaca counties. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 120 PM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023 The monsoon high will be centered over northern NM today, beginning to drift east toward TX Thursday and building over the Great Plains area this weekend into next week. Afternoon storm chances wane a bit with a batch of mid-level dry air currently over TX being entrained over NM. Scattered to numerous storm coverage forecast Thursday over western NM trends lower to scattered coverage Friday, then to isolated coverage this weekend. High temperatures trend warmer as well with 100s returning to the eastern plains Thursday and Friday, then trending back below 100F by the weekend. The drier air combined with increased southeasterly flow into eastern NM will allow for isolated and shortlived elevated to locally critical fire weather for the northeast highlands this weekend. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 62 93 64 92 / 30 30 30 30 Dulce........................... 50 91 51 87 / 40 60 40 30 Cuba............................ 57 86 56 87 / 50 60 40 30 Gallup.......................... 57 89 56 88 / 30 60 40 50 El Morro........................ 56 84 53 83 / 30 70 50 40 Grants.......................... 56 87 54 88 / 40 60 40 40 Quemado......................... 59 86 56 85 / 30 70 40 50 Magdalena....................... 63 88 61 87 / 20 60 20 20 Datil........................... 59 83 57 84 / 30 60 30 40 Reserve......................... 58 90 57 88 / 30 50 20 40 Glenwood........................ 62 96 63 94 / 20 40 20 40 Chama........................... 47 84 48 81 / 30 70 40 40 Los Alamos...................... 60 87 60 85 / 40 60 30 30 Pecos........................... 58 88 58 88 / 30 50 30 20 Cerro/Questa.................... 45 85 47 85 / 40 50 20 30 Red River....................... 44 78 45 78 / 40 60 20 40 Angel Fire...................... 40 80 43 80 / 30 50 20 30 Taos............................ 51 89 53 87 / 30 40 20 20 Mora............................ 53 84 52 84 / 40 40 20 30 Espanola........................ 59 93 60 93 / 30 40 20 20 Santa Fe........................ 59 88 60 88 / 30 50 30 20 Santa Fe Airport................ 59 92 59 91 / 30 30 20 20 Albuquerque Foothills........... 69 93 65 93 / 40 50 30 10 Albuquerque Heights............. 68 94 67 95 / 30 40 30 10 Albuquerque Valley.............. 66 96 65 97 / 30 40 30 10 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 68 94 66 95 / 40 40 30 10 Belen........................... 64 97 63 97 / 20 30 30 10 Bernalillo...................... 66 96 64 96 / 40 40 30 10 Bosque Farms.................... 63 96 63 96 / 20 30 30 10 Corrales........................ 67 96 65 96 / 40 40 30 10 Los Lunas....................... 63 96 63 96 / 20 30 30 10 Placitas........................ 66 93 63 93 / 40 50 30 10 Rio Rancho...................... 66 95 65 94 / 40 40 30 10 Socorro......................... 69 98 67 97 / 10 20 20 10 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 60 87 59 87 / 40 60 30 20 Tijeras......................... 63 90 61 89 / 40 60 30 20 Edgewood........................ 58 91 57 89 / 30 50 30 10 Moriarty/Estancia............... 53 92 54 91 / 20 40 30 10 Clines Corners.................. 59 89 57 88 / 30 30 20 10 Mountainair..................... 60 90 58 90 / 20 50 20 10 Gran Quivira.................... 63 91 60 90 / 20 40 30 20 Carrizozo....................... 68 93 66 92 / 10 30 20 20 Ruidoso......................... 62 85 60 85 / 10 50 20 20 Capulin......................... 58 86 58 88 / 20 10 5 10 Raton........................... 56 90 56 91 / 20 10 10 10 Springer........................ 56 93 57 95 / 20 20 10 10 Las Vegas....................... 56 89 56 90 / 30 20 20 20 Clayton......................... 66 93 63 96 / 5 0 5 0 Roy............................. 59 93 60 93 / 20 10 10 5 Conchas......................... 66 100 66 99 / 20 5 20 0 Santa Rosa...................... 65 97 64 96 / 20 20 20 5 Tucumcari....................... 68 101 67 100 / 10 5 10 0 Clovis.......................... 68 101 67 99 / 10 10 10 0 Portales........................ 69 102 68 100 / 10 10 10 0 Fort Sumner..................... 69 101 68 99 / 20 10 20 0 Roswell......................... 72 105 71 103 / 0 5 10 0 Picacho......................... 68 97 67 95 / 10 20 10 10 Elk............................. 64 92 63 91 / 10 20 10 20 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ214-215. && SHORT TERM...24 LONG TERM....52 AVIATION...24
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
1032 AM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 PM Flash Flood 2 NNE Rociada 35.86N 105.41W
08/13/2023 San Miguel NM Emergency Mngr
Debris flow from heavy rainfall required the
state EOC to deliver sandbags to protect
homes in and around Rociada.
&&
ANMPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
1033 AM MDT Wed Aug 16 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0700 PM Flash Flood Holman 36.04N 105.38W
08/13/2023 Mora NM Emergency Mngr
Debris flow across 518 in Holman required
removal of rocks and mud across road.
&&
ANMThe Albuquerque radar (KABX), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:47 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Road leading up to residence was covered in flowing water near State Roads 105 and 276 in lower Rociada.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, August 2023
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: 1111096.