Are we back from the dead?  No, our office is very much alive and kicking.  It was just our blog that has had a near death experience.  It's time we bring it back to life.  So what have we been up to this past year?  Read on to find out!

Dust

In May of 2014, a deadly crash related to a dust storm killed 7 people on I-10 by the Lordsburg Playa.  Because of that, we have been making regular trips out to the Lordsburg, NM Playa area to study the dust storm issue.

http://krqe.com/2014/05/22/7-killed-in-crash-west-of-lordsburg/

As a result of our trips, we have compiled a video of several dramatic dust storms our cameras have captured over the past year.  Below you can see some of that footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFdI9TE8Fyc

NMSU students Kacie DeSomer and Trevor Nash downloading images from the playa cameras.  May 2016.

Weather Stations

Over the past year, we've worked tirelessly to bring some of our older Agricultural (Ag.) weather stations back up to working order, upgrading most of the components and sensors.  During this upgrade process, we have also changed the communications method from old school dial-up over the phone, to a more advanced radio/network telemetry system.  There is still a lot of work to do on our Ag. network, but progress continues.

We have also been working to maintain our USRCRN stations that we inherited from our Federal partners, making trips to the sites to empty the Geonor rain gauges and fix any problems that may arise.

NMSU staff member Stanley Engle dowloading data from a USRCRN weather station on top of Magdalena Ridge, near Socorro, NM.

Finally, we have been installing Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station in our community as part of an outreach program, or in partnership with the NM Viticulture Program.

NMSU staff member Stanley Engle installs a Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station while UTEP intern Maryflor Garcia watches.

Website

If you are a regular visitor to our website, you'll have noticed a major change in layout.  We now use the updated NMSU theme, which also makes our website more mobile friendly. The "behind the scenes" code has also gone through several revisions so that we can lay the groundwork for more interesting data products in the near future.  If you haven't yet visited us, please do so at http://weather.nmsu.edu.

Social Media

Obviously this blog is part of our social media outreach.  Unfortunately we let it slide into oblivion as we concentrated more on our various Twitter accounts.  No more.  Every effort will be made to provide more information not only on our Twitter accounts, but also right here in the bloggerverse (Is that a thing?).

Speaking of Twitter, because of our UTEP summer intern, Maryflor, we now have a New Mexico CoCoRaHS Twitter feed and a snazy new logo to go along with it.  Check it out when you get the chance.  Our tireless NM State Climatologist, Dr. Dave DuBois, also keeps up with Twitter and provides a Twitter feed that shouldn't be missed.  The field technician and software developer for our office, Stanley Engle, also maintains his own feed, tweeting his take on weather and climate related information.  Finally, we partner closely with the NM Viticulture program as we participate in weather station activities together.  Please follow their account for all things wine in New Mexico.

That's all for now.  Stay tuned for more information about our activities in the coming weeks.

Enjoy the Show!

Our 2016 summer crew!  From left to right: Viticulture Weather Specialist Elizabeth Smith, PhD candidate in computer science Antonio Arredondo, UTEP summer intern Maryflor Garcia, field tech and software developer Stanley Engle, NMSU grad student Zahra Ghodsizadeh, NMSU undergrad Trevor Nash.

Part of our 2015 summer crew! From left to right: NMSU grad student Yizhi Zhao, NMSU summer intern Kacie DeSomer, UTEP summer intern Ana Quevedo, Viticulture Weather Specialist Elizabeth Smith.

NMSU PhD candidate Antonio Arredondo helping out with an outreach event last summer.

NMSU staff member Stanley Engle recruiting students attending AMS to come to NMSU for grad school.

Our former Program Specialist and NMSU alumni Reyes Duran doing her part to measure precipitation in New Mexico.

NMSU student Kacie DeSomer, NMSU professor Dr. DeAntonio, and NMSU staff member Stanley Engle downloading weather data from the Lordsburg Playa.

Our fearless leader, NMSU professor and NM State Climatologist Dr. Dave DuBois saying "See you next time!"