N.M. severe storm warnings doubled
ALBUQUERQUE — The conditions proved to be just right this year in New Mexico for severe weather that prompted double the average number of warnings issued by forecasters in a typical year, but the flurry of activity seems to have come to a screeching halt.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said Thursday that much of the state is in for more warm, dry weather.
“It’s been awfully quiet lately,” said meteorologist Kerry Jones.
That’s much different than what Jones and his colleagues saw earlier this year as the ingredients needed to make for severe weather lined up to create a seemingly endless series of storms.
The most active period followed the monsoon, with storms stretching into September and October.
In all, 501 severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued across a large portion of New Mexico this year. That’s more than double the average over the last several years and significantly more than the last notable year in 2015, when 376 warnings were issued.
Forecasters also have put out 64 flash flood warnings and 35 tornado warnings. The average for tornado warnings has been 11, Jones said.
There are specific definitions that forecasters need to consider when it comes to classifying something as a severe storm. That includes hail at least the size of a quarter and winds around 58 mph, or 50 knots.
Masses of cold air slide into New Mexico from the east or northeast and are topped by fast moving winds from the northwest to create a churning system. That rotation along with the right amount of moisture often results in severe thunderstorms.
“That setup, that overall pattern was pretty prevalent,” Jones said. “In September and October, we would go three, four days in a row with that setup.”
The typical severe weather season in New Mexican can stretch from March into June.
On May 9, the radar lit up for about two hours as a severe weather developed over a 200-mile stretch between Santa Fe and Carrizozo. There were reports of tornados, heavy rain, golf ball-sized hail and uprooted trees. In August, a severe thunderstorm left behind tennis ballsized hail in Las Vegas, N.M.