Last Week's Winter Storm

Much of New Mexico experienced winter weather last week as a winter storm made it's way across the state.  Snow began to develop in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico on the evening of the 20th, continuing on the 21st and finally affecting the Southern part of New Mexico on the 22nd.

The NM Department of Transportation reported several closures over multiple highways across the state.  Schools were also affected.  According to NM news sources, over 90 schools were affected by last week's storm.  Here in Las Cruces, NMSU was closed at 10AM and the Las Cruces Public Schools let out early, allowing staff to leave after 1PM.

Weather station data from last week's storm shows that many locations across New Mexico recorded heavy snowfall.  Other locations saw none at all.  The following map shows CoCoRaHS snowfall amounts across the state.

Although the State Climatologist, Dr. Dave DuBois, was out of town during the storm, the staff at the climate center was able to capture images of the storm as it passed through Las Cruces.

The NMSU weather station taken by Rebecca Britt-Armenta

Another view of the NMSU weather station by Rebecca Britt-Armenta

A neighborhood in Las Cruces by Stanley Engle

Another neighborhood in Las Cruces by Antonio Arredondo

On Another Note

Several weeks ago, the students and staff of the NM Climate Center attended the American Meteorological Society's Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ.  This year the theme of the conference was "Fulfilling the Vision of Weather, Water, and Climate Information for Every Need, Time, and Place." We arrived early on the weekend prior to the start of the full meeting to take the Python short course.  As a Python programmer already, I attended the advanced Python short course, while my colleagues, Dr. Dave DuBios, Yizhi Zhao, and Rebecca Britt-Armenta attended the beginner course.

Rebecca and Yizhi learning Python by Dr. Dave DuBois

Every year the conference reaches out to the community by holding a WeatherFest where weather and atmospheric sciences are promoted. This year looked very successful and many kids and their parents attended the event. Here are a few photos from WeatherFest.

On the first Monday of the meeting, I attended the Fifth Symposium on Advances in Modeling and Analysis Using Python.  The major takeaway from this symposium is that Python is here to stay in the atmospheric sciences.  Later on Monday, we attended the exhibit presentations to see the latest and greatest technology available for the atmospheric sciences.

A Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station by Stanley Engle

Of course, one of the most popular exhibits is the NOAA Science on a Sphere.  This would be a good place to get a group picture.

Rebecca, Dave, Stan and Yizhi at AMS Annual Meeting 2015

Unfortunately, I had to leave after Monday, but Dr. DuBois, Yizhi and Rebecca stayed for a few more days.  Rebecca found that the most interesting experience at AMS was attending several talks.  A few noteworthy presentations included those in the "Global Warming Hiatus" on the first day of the conference and several sessions on the National Climate Assessment. Dr. DuBois gave the talk A perspective on drought information services at a state climate office.  According to Rebecca, about 30 meeting attendees listened to his presentation.  Below is a view of that presentation.

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

Monsoon season 2014 in New Mexico

The Monsoon season (June 15 to September 30) in New Mexico started with minimum or none rain during June and it was not until early July that we received the first rains but less than one inch. The active period was almost at the end of the season (early-mid September) which provided moisture during these last weeks.  We also had a big event in where received more than 3 inches of rainfall in some zones, mostly in Las Cruces and Southwest NM (figure 2).  The ideal is to receive the rainfall distributed along the entire season in multiple events and not in only one, but it was not the case. We end up with few events in September, including one big event of rain. The inconvenience with this is that we receive a large amount of rainfall in a short period of time and this causes the soil to get saturated and in consequence we have increase in runoff and floods. This was the case of the Mid-September event, in which we received input from the remnants of hurricane Odile (Last week rainfall events-hurricane Odile).

The following maps show the precipitation totals during Monsoon Season for New Mexico State, Albuquerque, and Las Cruces, NM.



Map 1: New Mexico total precipitation during Monsoon Season. Mapped by Yizhi Zhao from NM State Climatologist Office.

Map 2: Rainfall across Albuquerque area during Monsoon Season. Mapped by Yizhi Zhao from NM State Climatologist Office.

Map 3: Rainfall across Las Cruces Area during Monsoon Season. Mapped by Yizhi Zhao from NM State Climatologist Office.

The following graphs show accumulated precipitation for Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

 

Figure 1: Accumulated Precipitation. Weather station: Albuquerque International Airport, NM.  Graph from scacis.rcc-acis.org.

 

 

Figure 2: Accumulated Precipitation. Weather station: Las Cruces Municipal Airport, NM. In September 15^th-18^th, hurricane Odile and moisture from the remnants produced heavy rainfall and caused flooding over the Baja California area and the southwestern United States. The weather station in Las Cruces Municipal Airport registered almost three inches of rainfall for this event.  Graph from scacis.rcc-acis.org.

According to the 2014 North American Monsoon (NAM) Outlook for central and northern New Mexico, a key factor that influenced this Monsoon season was the massive volume of anomalously warm water in the equatorial Pacific Region (2014 North American Monsoon (NAM) Outlook for central and northern New Mexico).

Although these rainfall events caused flood and difficulties, is important to mention that it, by the other side, improved the drought conditions is some zones of New Mexico (Last week rainfall events-hurricane Odile).

Installing new weather stations to support viticulture in northern New Mexico

On September 26^th 2014, two members of the NM Climate Center Team travelled north from Las Cruces to perform maintenance on three weather stations and install a new station.  The maintenance was performed at Ponderosa Valley Vineyard, Corrales Winery, and Los Lunas Agricultural Science Center. The new station was installed at the Estrella del Norte vineyard.



Locations of weather stations. Image from Google Earth.



In cooperation with the New Mexico Climate Center, the NMSU viticulture program is installing weather stations at vineyards across New Mexico.  A Davis Weather Station was installed at the Estrella Del Norte secondary vineyard.  According to Elizabeth Smith, the secondary location was chosen because it is in a topographically challenging area and also is away from the main tourist location.  The owners wished this location to be monitored due to its increased chance of experiencing freezes. Installing the physical station and computer system took approximately 1.5 hours and was maintaining network contact at the time of leaving.

Weather station at Estrella del Norte vineyard. Photo by: Elizabeth Smith

Weather station at Estrella del Norte vineyard. Photo by: Elizabeth Smith

Weather station at Estrella del Norte vineyard. Photo by: Elizabeth Smith



Weather station at Estrella del Norte vineyard. Photo by: Elizabeth Smith

The second location they visited was Ponderosa Valley Vineyard.  The stop was necessitated by poor response from the computer system, so a new computer with updated software was installed. The data stored on the old computer will be sent to the vineyard at a later date.  Communication to the network was working when we left.

The third location, Corrales winery, needed an updated computer as well. Communication to the network was working and stable when leaving.  The Corrales location worked for approximately 7.5 hours before a network error occurred. At Elizabeth's request, the winery re-booted the computer and monitoring resumed within 3 hours.

The last location they went was Los Lunas Agricultural Center. The weather station in this location was failing to record accurate air/soil temperature data.  They also noticed that the station was reporting very low battery voltages.  Therefore, they decided that the problems could be one or all of the following:

1.  A bad battery,
2.  A bad charge controller,
3.  A bad solar panel, or
4.  Bad air/soil temperature sensors.

Once they arrived, Stanley Engle opened the battery box and immediately noticed that the battery terminals were very corroded.  Further, the water level in the battery was very low.  The voltage was 12.5 volts and datalogger was also reporting 12.5 volts.  He covered the solar panel with a black trash bag and recorded 3 volts from the solar panel.  The voltage reported by the datalogger slowly began to fall until it stabilized around 8 volts.  During this time, the datalogger was also showing bad data from the air/soil temperature sensors. Stan uncovered the solar panel and replaced the battery with a new 12v deep cycle marine battery.  He repeated the process of covering the solar panel, however, this time, the datalogger reported voltage of 12.5 volts.  The air/soil temperature reading were also holding steady at reasonable levels.  Uncovering the solar panel also yielded steady 12.5 volts reported by the datalogger and manually measured at the charge controller.  From this process, they concluded that the only issue we had to deal with was the bad battery.  Since then, the voltage and air/soil temperature readings have all been reasonable.



Battery at Los Lunas Agricultural Center. Photo by: Stanley Engle



Finally, the Los Lunas office/weather station Campbell Scientific RF 401 radios were replaced with Campbell Scientific RF 416 radios.  The RF416 radios operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency and are lower transmitting power radios.  Since the Los Lunas weather station is so close to the office, we didn't need higher transmitting power radios.  The RF 401 radios are now available to be used at other locations.



Weather station at Los Lunas Agricultural Center. Photo by: Stanley Engle



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

Monsoon Storms Causing Issues Across New Mexico

The past two days have been rainy ones in New Mexico. Thunderstorms in the southern and central parts of the state have brought much-needed moisture, and while residents are grateful to see some rain falling, the storms have brought along some nasty side effects.

The CoCoRaHS precipitation map for today shows rainfall amounts recorded throughout the state for the last 24 hours. CoCoRaHS volunteer observers record the amounts present in rain gauges at 7 am (or thereabouts). Many New Mexico residents reported that they experienced the rain and thunderstorms in the evening and throughout the night, times when rain is a little more likely to fall during monsoon season. Notice that only two of the counties with stations sending in reports show no precipitation falling over the last 24 hours (five counties show no stations reporting for the day, as of this morning).

Precipitation amounts for the 24 hours leading up to 7 am on July 25 for New Mexico. Source: cocorahs.org

The precipitation map for July 24, showing precipitation accumulation for the previous 24 hours prior to 7 am on Tuesday, shows rainfall in fewer areas of the state, with the most significant rainfall occurring in the southwestern part of the state.

Precipitation amounts for the 24 hours leading up to 7 am on July 24 for New Mexico. Source: cocorahs.org

News sources have reported on the impacts of thunderstorms that occurred throughout the state yesterday. These reports clearly show some of the weather hazards that can come with the monsoon season. The TV station KRQE out of Albuquerque reported that a car was struck by lightning while driving in Torrance County yesterday; luckily, no one was injured. Last night, many in Dona Ana County experienced a few hours straight of thunder and lightning activity. The map below shows the lightning strike frequency from 6 am on July 24 to 6 am on July 25, 2013. The red and orange colors show the highest frequencies of strikes (greater than 14 and from 8 to 13, respectively). Notice just how much of the state received lightning strikes over the past 24 hours.

Map from the Predictive Services Program. Source: http://psgeodata.fs.fed.us/lightning_frequency.html

New Mexicans do see an increase in lightning and thunder this time of year. In fact, according to a report from NOAA, the region impacted by the Mexican Monsoon sees the most lightning activity in July and August of any area in the Western Hemisphere. And New Mexico has the highest rate of deaths from lightning strikes in the country at nearly two deaths per million people. NOAA has a lightning safety page to help you stay safe during thunderstorms.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that as much as two inches of rain fell in Guadalupe County yesterday and that flooding closed part of a road in Rio Rancho. KFOX 14 TV news out of El Paso reported on flooding in Vado in southern Dona Ana County. They included video of the flooding, showing the water running up to the porch of a trailer home and running in torrents down the street. Families had to be evacuated from their homes in this instance. Flash floods are a chief danger during monsoon season. They can develop and become dangerous very quickly. Today, all of southwestern and parts of central-western and central New Mexico are still under a flash flood watch. See the National Weather Service website for the latest warnings and advisories for your area.

Perhaps the most striking weather event to occur over the last few days was on Tuesday, when a microburst damaged homes and businesses in Columbus, a village in Luna County 30 miles south of Deming. A microburst is a type of downburst, which occurs when a wind rapidly descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out when it impacts the earth; a microburst is a downburst of less then 2.5 miles in diameter. This particular microburst had winds of up to 90 mph and did damage to some 29 structures in the village. No injuries were reported. Downburst winds are one of the leading causes of weather-related damage in the state.

So while you're enjoying the rain that's falling this monsoon season don't forget to be on the lookout for any potential dangers that can come with the thunderstorms, winds and lightning shows.