Halloween day! Warmest and coldest days of Halloween in the last five years

This is a typical festive night in which people go out to attend costume parties and kids go to "trick or treat". You would like to see how the weather in Las Cruces, New Mexico has been through the last years. The following table shows the highest and lowest records in the last five years for the Halloween Day.

 

 

Source: Almanac for Las Cruces Municipal Airport. From http://scacis.rcc-acis.org/

Data from 2009-2013

What weather conditions are expected for the Halloween day and night in Las Cruces?

According to the National Weather Service, Halloween day is going to be mostly sunny, with a high near 71°F. The East southeast winds can be 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.  Friday Night will be partly cloudy, with a low around 52°F. East wind 7 to 13 mph.

We have a partly cloudy - windy Halloween day and night!

Enjoy and keep safety in mind!




From: http://www.overthebigmoon.com



-Cristina González

Turn Around Don’t Drown

The NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) has been promoting "Turn Around Don't Drown" signs around the US. This is a campaign to warn people of the hazards of crossing through a flood. The NWS mission is to help protect life and property.  The NM Department of Transportation is planning on installing more of these signs across NM and the NM Climate Center team is planning on helping find potential sites where they are critically needed.

Take a look at this information provided by NOAA National Weather Service:

What Is Turn Around Don't Drown® (TADD)?

TADD is a NOAA National Weather Service campaign to warn people of the hazards of walking or driving a vehicle through flood waters.

Why is Turn Around Don't Drown® So Important?

Each year, more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other severe weather related hazard. The Centers for Disease Control report that over half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood water. The next highest percentage of flood-related deaths is due to walking into or near flood waters. Why? The main reason is people underestimate the force and power of water. Many of the deaths occur in automobiles as they are swept downstream. Many of these drownings are preventable, but too many people continue to drive around the barriers that warn you the road is flooded.

 

What Can I Do to Avoid Getting Caught is This Situation?

Most flood-related deaths and injuries could be avoided if people who come upon areas covered with water followed this simple advice: Turn Around Don't Drown®.

The reason that so many people drown during flooding is because few of them realize the incredible power of water. A mere six inches of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult. It takes only two feet of rushing water to carry away most vehicles. This includes pickups and SUVs.

If you come to an area that is covered with water, you will not know the depth of the water or the condition of the ground under the water. This is especially true at night, when your vision is more limited.

Play it smart, play it safe. Whether driving or walking, any time you come to a flooded road, Turn Around Don't Drown®

Follow these safety rules:

• Monitor the NOAA Weather Radio, or your favorite news source for vital weather related information.
• If flooding occurs, get to higher ground. Get out of areas subject to flooding. This includes dips, low spots, canyons, washes etc.
• Avoid areas already flooded, especially if the water is flowing fast. Do not attempt to cross flowing streams. Turn Around Don't Drown®
• Road beds may be washed out under flood waters. NEVER drive through flooded roadways. Turn Around Don't Drown®
• Do not camp or park your vehicle along streams and washes, particularly during threatening conditions.
• Be especially cautious at night when it is harder to recognize flood dangers.

TADD Brochure:

For more information, access: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/water/tadd/

-Cristina González

Last week rainfall events-Hurricane Odile

During the past week, starting Tuesday 16th, Hurricane Odile and moisture from the remnants produced heavy rainfall and caused flooding over the Baja California area and the southwestern United States.  We had a significant amount of rain in a relatively short period of time. The soil quickly gets saturated and water starts to accumulate.  Here, in New Mexico, we do not have a lot of natural hazards but flooding tops out on the list and causes inconvenience.





Photo 1-Heavy runoff in North of Rodeo, NM. Photo by David DuBois




Photo 2-Heavy runoff in North of Rodeo, NM. Photo by David DuBois

Photo 3-Playa West of Lordsburg, NM. Photo by David DuBois

Heavy Rain runoff in Rodeo, NM. on September 19, 2014. Video by D. DuBois

Flash flood concerned portions of Eastern New Mexico and Western Texas ,but at the same time it eased the droughts in some zones of the Southwest region, where some areas have been experiencing extreme to exceptional drought conditions.  The NM Drought Monitoring Work Group met past Tuesday, 23 of September, for their monthly meeting and they agree in modify the current U.S. Drought Monitor map for New Mexico. According to the Drought Summary from the National Weather Service, Albuquerque NM, drought was removed from portions of southeast New Mexico, but 63% of the state is still in moderate to extreme drought and 30% is still in severe to extreme drought. The none drought category increases from 3 to 16%, which reflects about 13% of improvement in Southwest of New Mexico (figures 1 and 2).



Figure 1: U.S. Drought Monitor Weekly Comparison. Left map shows data from September 16, 2014 and right map shows September 23, 2014.
Source: U.S. Drought Monitor



Figure 2: U.S. Drought Monitor for September 23, 2014.
Source: U.S. Drought Monitor

Monsoon has been active late in the Monsoon season and provided moisture during the past weeks. Input from Hurricane Odile impulsed more humidity this last week.

 Time Lapse of the Organ Mountains on September 19, 2014. Video by D. DuBois



-Cristina Gonzalez

USRCRN Stations

The New Mexico Climate Center will soon be able to gather climate data from even more monitoring stations in New Mexico with the addition of 15 stations that were formerly part of the U.S. Regional Climate Reference Network (USRCRN). Soon the precipitation and temperature data form these sites will be available through our website.

The USRCRN was a pilot project set up in 2009-2011 by NOAA's National Climate Data Center.  The project began in the Southwest United States. The high-quality weather stations in the network are spaced at 130 km spatial resolution and are focused on gathering temperature and precipitation information in order to detect regional climate signals. The sites were carefully chosen and many stations are situated in remote areas. The stations in New Mexico started recording data in 2009. (Note that this network is not the same one as the U.S. Climate Reference Network.)

Map of USRCRN sites in New Mexico and Arizona (shown in black). The blue points are sites in the USCRN network. Map from
 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/crn/usrcrn/usrcrn-map.html

Unfortunately, budget cuts mean that the data from many of these USRCRN stations stopped being ingested and made available at the USRCRN website as of June 1, 2014. Five of the stations in New Mexico were de-installed. Theses stations were at Kiowa and Rita Blanca Grasslands (Clayton), BLM near Kenna (Elida),  BLM Hagerman, Kiowa and Rita Grasslands (Mills), and BLM near Ramon (Vaughn). (The equipment from these sites will be divided up and given to climate offices in the Southwestern states.) Management of the 15 remaining stations will be moved to various local individuals and organizations who are willing to help. We have had strong commitments for most of them. (One of these stations is the highest in the network at 10,000 feet on Magdalena Ridge.) The remaining stations will still collect precipitation and temperature data; the issue will be finding a way to ingest that data into our website. We're working now to find a way to get those data into our website.

The USRCRN station at Carrizozo in Lincoln County, New Mexico. 

The following diagram describes the set-up of each station (image from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/crn/usrcrn/).

The data loggers on the remaining open stations are still collecting the data from the  precipitation gauges and the temperature sensors. The collected information goes to the GOES satellite through the GOES antenna. Our task is to find a way to get that information from the satellite.