Flash Flood — Taos, New Mexico

2015-07-02 · near Red River, Taos, New Mexico

Event narrative

Heavy rain caused a mudslide along NM 38, causing it to close for 2 hours. The rain also caused a rockslide to close all but one lane of County Road 578.

Wider weather episode

A moist and unstable environment allowed for showers and thunderstorms to develop over much of northern and central New Mexico during the afternoon and evening. Due to the position of the upper level high, storm motion was slow, allowing for thunderstorms to drop heavy rain and small hail over longer periods of time. One half inch to one and a half inches of rainfall was commonly reported, and generally fell within a two hour window. One storm caused flash flooding along State Road 38 near Red River, with the road closing for 2 hours so crews could remove mudslide debris. Another storm caused a 10 foot wall of water to surge through a normally dry gully south of Edgewood. No other flash flooding was reported with this event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.6756, -105.4011)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 575768. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.