NEWS
Monsoon storms bring flooding risk to New Mexico
Widespread rain and cooler temperatures are expected through the week, with flash flooding possible in urban areas, arroyos and burn scars
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Murky and cloudy skies will set the scene in the Land of Enchantment through the remainder of the week as monsoon storms make their way through New Mexico.
Most areas in the state will experience 鈥渓ots of rainfall鈥� that is unusual for this time of year, as a plume of monsoon moisture makes its way through the region, said Carter Greulich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.
鈥淭he main threat we鈥檙e looking at is this scattered to numerous thunderstorms producing lots of rainfall in a short amount of time,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat could lead to isolated flash flooding instances 鈥� so that鈥檚 kind of the main weather impact we鈥檙e looking at.鈥�
Wednesday is projected to have widespread rain showers and will likely be the rainiest day of the week. Albuquerque and southern New Mexico are projected to receive rain late in the day.
Precipitation is expected to taper off later in the week, but there鈥檚 a 60% and 70% chance of rain showers in Albuquerque and much of the state this weekend, Greulich said.
Greulich said the rain won鈥檛 be enough to affect the ongoing drought in the long term, but it can provide short-term benefits, Greulich said.
鈥淚t can be very helpful for the vegetation and wildfires if we do get rainfall over them,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he unfortunate thing is we would need a lot of this rainfall to happen over several days and we really didn鈥檛 get a whole lot of that.鈥�
Temperatures will be 鈥渕uch cooler than they have been," Greulich said, with temperatures ranging between the high 60s and low 70s in Albuquerque. In August, multiple heat advisories were issued as many cities across the state were projected to break heat records.
Roswell and Tucumcari are expected to reach temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s this week despite the rainfall, Greulich said.
As the clouds open up to drop some much-needed relief, Greulich warned residents to be mindful of flash floods near arroyos and burn scars.
He added that if people encounter flooded roadways, it is better to turn around and pull over, as 鈥測ou can never truly know鈥� how deep the waters are. Greulich warned that places with burn scars, including Ruidoso, may be subjected to flash flooding.
