Debris Flow — Lincoln, New Mexico

2025-08-18 · near Alto, Lincoln, New Mexico

Event narrative

Brief heavy rainfall over the South Fork burn scar resulted in some flowing water and debris flow across Gavilan Canyon Road.

Wider weather episode

A traditional monsoon flow on the western flank of an upper level high over the central U.S. combined with daytime heating resulted in the development of shower and thunderstorm activity across the higher terrain during the early through late afternoon hours. Some of this shower and thunderstorm activity moved over the South Fork burn scar on both August 17th and August 18th resulting in flash flooding and debris flow across roadways on and downstream of the burn scar. Overall impacts were reported to be more severe and widespread on August 17th compared to August 18th. Finally, a brief landspout was observed in Las Vegas during the mid afternoon on August 18th as well as near the Bernalillo and Sandoval County line during the mid afternoon on August 19th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.3841, -105.6461)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1274874. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.