Flood in San Miguel County, New Mexico

A trained spotter near Chacon, NM confirmed reports from various sources across social media and broadcast media of flooding across the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from a combination of heavy rain and heavy rain on snow within the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon burn scar. The Gallinas Creek in particular responded with high rises that flooded several low water crossings within Las Vegas, NM. Videos shared on Facebook showed flooding in Sapello, NM with other reports of flooding near Mineral Hill west of Las Vegas.

Abundant moisture pushed east to west across NM behind a strong cold front ahead of a strong upper level low approaching from AZ. The abundant moisture and favorable weather setup allowed for multiple days of strong to severe thunderstorms to develop across northern and central NM from May 4th through the 6th. Alongside all of this was unseasonably cold weather at higher elevations of the northern mountains. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains received 1 to 3 feet of snow at higher elevations above 9,500 feet. These high snow amounts ended up melting fairly quickly or succumbed to rain on snow events producing flooding impacts over portions of the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that lasted into May 8th.

Key Words: Heavy Snow, Severe Thunderstorms, River Flooding.