An upper low over the Great Basin progressed east towards Colorado during the day Saturday. At the surface, a backdoor front pushed as far west as the Continental Divide with higher surface moisture across the Upper and Middle Rio Grande Valley and eastern New Mexico east of the front.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
An upper low over the Great Basin progressed east towards Colorado during the day Saturday. At the surface, a backdoor front pushed as far west as the Continental Divide with higher surface moisture across the Upper and Middle Rio Grande Valley and eastern New Mexico east of the front. Lift ahead of the upper low, interacting with the higher moisture along with high vertical wind shear resulted in the development of severe storms across central New Mexico with one storm spawning a tornado in the Jemez Mountains northeast of Battleship Rock. Storms then moved east into the highlands and plains of eastern New Mexico during the evening hours where they produced quarter to golf ball size hail. A storm that produced golf ball sized hail in southern Chaves County also caused some flash flooding along State Highway 13 and on the normally dry Rio Felix. Storms exited east into Texas by midnight.
Key Words: Tornado, Hail, Flash Flood, Thunderstorm Wind Gust.
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 May 11, 10:47 AM MST, 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1147 AM MDT Sat May 11 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 248 AM MDT Sat May 11 2024 Today sees the best chances for scattered to numerous showers and storms for the eastern two-thirds of northern and central NM. A few of these storms could become strong to severe, producing lightning, hail, gusty winds, and brief heavy downpours. Drier conditions push in from the west Sunday, with showers and storms holding on the longest through northeastern NM Sunday evening. Scattered showers and storm chances return over northern and central NM Monday and Tuesday afternoon as well, and likely Wednesday as well. The question is how long will shower and storm chances last into the latter half of next week? && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Sunday) Issued at 248 AM MDT Sat May 11 2024 Active weather will continue today as a 565dm H5 low near Las Vegas shifts east and interacts with moist southeasterly flow across NM. Large-scale ascent associated with a broad 70 to 80 kt speed max aloft will spread over low level convergence along a surface front draped across central NM. Scattered showers and isolated storms are expected to develop before sunrise today around the RGV then spread northeast across the central mt chain throughout the day. A stable airmass in place over eastern NM this morning with widespread low stratus and patchy fog will limit surface-based instability initially. However, that will change along the western periphery of the airmass while a dryline-type scenario approaches from the west and allows stronger forcing with surface-based instability to spread east. The latest SPC convective outlook has a large 'Marginal Risk' area from near ABQ and Santa Fe southeastward to Roswell today. The main threat will be large hail an isolated severe wind gusts with the strongest storms. The QPF pattern suggests storms will organize into linear segments from southwest to northeast with cells training over the same areas thru this evening. This will lead to bands of higher QPF with a large disparity between folks who pick up more than 0.50" and those who receive almost nothing. This will be especially true around the RGV and central mt chain before storms organize upstream into a large area of rain across northeast NM by tonight. The latest WPC QPF shows widespread amounts in excess of 1" over northeast NM with a 'Marginal Risk' for excessive rainfall in place. Meanwhile, western NM will remain very dry and breezy today with temps slightly below normal while eastern NM is cool and wet. By late tonight, the upper low will have moved into southern CO with widespread low clouds and patchy fog continuing across eastern NM thru late Sunday morning. Rain and isolated storms may linger thru sunrise as well around the Caprock of east-central NM. The focus will then shift to afternoon showers and storms developing over the higher terrain and northeast NM in the wake of the departing upper low. This activity will move quickly southeast and may produce small hail along with brief rain and localized strong winds thru late day. Max temps will still be 5 to 10F below normal and blustery northwest winds will make it feel even cooler. && .LONG TERM... (Sunday night through Friday) Issued at 248 AM MDT Sat May 11 2024 Sunday night convection dies down over the northeastern portion of NM with clearing conditions heading into Monday morning. Outflow winds from convection over northeastern NM will likely produce some gusty winds reaching as far as the central highlands and Estancia Valley early Monday morning. Monday sees NM between the exiting upper low to the east and a weak ridging pattern ahead of the next upper low off the southern CA coast. Numerical model guidance continues to favor enough mid-level moisture to generate afternoon showers and thunderstorms over parts of central and northern NM Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Small hail, gusty winds and lightning will be the main hazard from any of these storms. The extended portion of the forecast for Wednesday and beyond remains uncertain. Numerical model guidance continues to resolve multiple scenarios regarding how the upper low from the southern CA coastline phases with a trough digging down the Intermountain West. Near equal numbers of ensemble members have the trough closing off over AZ and spending more time over the Desert Southwest compared with a more progressive pattern. The first scenario would favor continued cooler and wetter conditions over NM with a backdoor frontal boundary bringing additional low-level moisture ahead of it into NM. The more progressive scenario would see the trough stay open and track eastward into TX by Thursday with drier air pushing in from the west and bringing a relatively quick end to precipitation chances over NM. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1010 AM MDT Sat May 11 2024 MVFR conditions will be associated with scattered to numerous showers and storms today across north central and eastern NM. Storms are forecast to move in on the ABQ Metro between 19-23Z. KLVS will likely go down to IFR with higher chances for storms this afternoon/evening. Areas of MVFR conditions in low stratus will redevelop overnight across eastern NM, with lower IFR probabilities. Improvement is forecast Sunday morning between 14-16Z. Both KFMN and KGUP are forecast to remain VFR through the TAF period. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 248 AM MDT Sat May 11 2024 There are no critical fire weather concerns for the next 7 days outside elevated conditions today in the West Central Range and Basin. Widespread wetting rainfall is likely for areas along and east of the central mt chain thru tonight with light snow accums in the northern high terrain above 10kft. A cool and unsettled weather pattern may persist thru the middle of next week for northern and eastern NM with daily rounds of showers and storms possible. There are big model differences now by late next week so forecast confidence deteriorates significantly beyond Wednesday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 72 41 72 43 / 30 20 20 0 Dulce........................... 64 35 66 30 / 90 20 50 5 Cuba............................ 66 41 64 37 / 70 20 40 5 Gallup.......................... 69 32 70 36 / 5 0 20 0 El Morro........................ 66 35 65 39 / 5 0 20 0 Grants.......................... 71 35 70 36 / 10 5 20 0 Quemado......................... 70 36 68 39 / 0 0 20 0 Magdalena....................... 73 44 70 45 / 20 0 20 0 Datil........................... 69 38 66 42 / 5 0 20 0 Reserve......................... 75 35 75 36 / 0 0 10 0 Glenwood........................ 79 46 79 50 / 0 0 5 0 Chama........................... 56 34 59 31 / 90 20 70 10 Los Alamos...................... 60 41 62 43 / 80 40 50 10 Pecos........................... 56 41 62 40 / 90 50 40 10 Cerro/Questa.................... 55 36 55 39 / 90 50 70 20 Red River....................... 50 30 52 30 / 90 50 90 20 Angel Fire...................... 50 31 54 27 / 80 60 70 20 Taos............................ 62 34 63 32 / 80 60 50 10 Mora............................ 53 35 60 35 / 90 60 50 10 Espanola........................ 69 43 68 40 / 80 40 40 10 Santa Fe........................ 62 42 63 43 / 80 50 40 10 Santa Fe Airport................ 66 44 67 41 / 80 40 30 10 Albuquerque Foothills........... 71 48 72 50 / 70 30 20 5 Albuquerque Heights............. 72 49 74 48 / 60 20 20 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 74 48 76 48 / 50 20 20 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 73 50 73 48 / 60 20 20 0 Belen........................... 77 46 77 44 / 40 10 10 0 Bernalillo...................... 72 49 74 47 / 70 30 20 0 Bosque Farms.................... 75 47 76 44 / 50 10 20 0 Corrales........................ 73 49 75 48 / 60 20 20 0 Los Lunas....................... 75 48 76 45 / 50 10 20 0 Placitas........................ 69 46 69 48 / 70 30 20 5 Rio Rancho...................... 72 48 73 48 / 60 20 20 0 Socorro......................... 82 51 81 50 / 10 5 10 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 60 41 63 45 / 80 40 30 5 Tijeras......................... 65 43 67 45 / 70 30 30 5 Edgewood........................ 64 41 67 40 / 80 40 20 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 67 41 69 37 / 70 40 20 0 Clines Corners.................. 59 40 64 38 / 80 50 20 10 Mountainair..................... 70 41 69 42 / 50 20 20 5 Gran Quivira.................... 71 43 69 41 / 40 20 20 0 Carrizozo....................... 78 48 75 49 / 30 10 10 0 Ruidoso......................... 69 44 68 44 / 40 20 20 0 Capulin......................... 52 39 59 39 / 90 70 80 20 Raton........................... 54 40 64 38 / 90 60 70 20 Springer........................ 55 41 65 38 / 90 60 50 20 Las Vegas....................... 52 40 64 38 / 90 70 30 10 Clayton......................... 59 45 68 46 / 80 70 60 30 Roy............................. 54 44 66 43 / 90 80 50 20 Conchas......................... 61 50 73 45 / 90 90 20 10 Santa Rosa...................... 60 48 70 43 / 80 70 10 10 Tucumcari....................... 62 49 75 46 / 80 80 30 20 Clovis.......................... 64 51 78 50 / 80 70 20 10 Portales........................ 65 51 80 48 / 80 70 10 10 Fort Sumner..................... 64 51 77 46 / 80 70 10 10 Roswell......................... 74 58 86 55 / 50 40 5 0 Picacho......................... 68 50 78 47 / 40 20 10 0 Elk............................. 71 47 77 45 / 30 20 10 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...42 LONG TERM....24 AVIATION...11
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
1228 PM MDT Sat May 11 2024
NMZ219-111900-
Middle Rio Grande Valley/Albuquerque Metro Area-
1228 PM MDT Sat May 11 2024
...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL IMPACT SOUTHERN SANDOVAL AND BERNALILLO
COUNTIES THROUGH 100 PM MDT...
At 1227 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 12
miles west of South Valley, or 15 miles southwest of Albuquerque,
moving northeast at 30 mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and nickel size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation is
possible.
Locations impacted include...
Northwestern Albuquerque, southwestern Rio Rancho, Los Ranchos De
Albuquerque, Paradise Hills, and North Valley.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If threatening weather approaches your area, take shelter in a sturdy
building.
Motorists can expect brief but sudden changes in visibility and
ponding of water on highways as storms move through the area.
Accumulations of small hail on roads can create very slick and
hazardous driving conditions.
&&
LAT...LON 3517 10659 3492 10687 3499 10700 3500 10700
3501 10702 3507 10699 3509 10697 3512 10697
3533 10688
TIME...MOT...LOC 1827Z 215DEG 27KT 3502 10690
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN
MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH
16/12The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 10 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:47 UTC.
11 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado, 1 high wind, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm produced pea to penny sized hail across southwest sections of Albuquerque.
Damage survey used video submitted to broadcast media to pinpoint the location of the tornado however the survey found few if any damage indicators for a damage rating. The only tree damage may have been from prior high winds and fire. A couple of ranches and residents along with a neighborhood to the SE of the location did not have any damages or downed trees in a pattern consistent with tornado damage. Other roads were restricted, and the survey could not access areas where tornado damage was suspected. Elevation at the location of the tornado was 8150 feet.
A severe thunderstorm produced nickel to quarter size hail in Jemez Pueblo.
Los Alamos Sky Cam and pictures from local residents showed significant accumulations of pea to penny size hail in downtown Los Alamos from a thunderstorm. Hail accumulation depth looked to be around 2 to 3 inches based on tire track marks on the road.
A high wind gust of 60 mph was recorded at the Farmington Four Corners Regional Airport, likely from nearby showers.
A wind gust of 62 mph was observed at Clines Corners ahead of a thunderstorm complex.
A resident near the Roswell Correctional Facility reported golf ball sized hail from a severe thunderstorm moving east across southern Chaves County.
Flash flood waters inundated four culverts beneath State Highway 13 and overtopped the Highway 101 near Brady Road. A 4 foot cattle fence was destroyed, damage is an estimate. The debris field was 2 to 3 feet deep.
A storm chaser travelling along Interstate 40 reported ping pong ball size hail from a severe storm moving east along the interstate.
Sheriffs Office reported the normally dry Rio Felix overtopped Morgan Road west of Hagerman. Lincoln and Cherokee Roads were also flooded. Roads were closed due to dangerous flows.
Golf ball size hail from a severe thunderstorm moving east across southern Chaves County damaged a car travelling along U.S. Highway 285.
Local law enforcement reported a severe thunderstorm producing golf ball size hail in Santa Rosa.
A local resident south of Santa Rosa reported quarter size hail from a severe thunderstorm moving east.
A CoCoRaHS observer reported pea to quarter size hail a few miles east southeast of Puerto De Luna. The storm produced hail accumulation depth of up to 4 inches in some places.
A severe thunderstorm produced quarter size hail a few miles north of Wheatland.
A thunderstorm produced up to penny size hail a few miles south of Broadview.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New Mexico, 2024Warnings in New Mexico, May 2024
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: 1166900, 1167032, 1166902, 1166904, 1166696, 1167033, 1167034, 1167044, 1167037, 1167046, 1167036, 1167039, 1167040, 1167041, 1167042, 1167043.