Hail — Rio Arriba, New Mexico

2016-09-17 · near Espanola, Rio Arriba, New Mexico

Event narrative

Nickel size hail.

Wider weather episode

The third in a series of back door cold fronts in less than a week moved southwest through eastern New Mexico and recharged the atmosphere for a final round of severe thunderstorms on the 17th. The break from the day before did not last long as storms starting firing up again along the front during the predawn hours. The first storm impacted the area around Las Vegas with nickel to quarter size hail shortly after 4 am. This area of storms developed into a line and produced heavy rainfall, small hail, and gusty winds as it pushed east across the high plains. The entire complex exited into the Texas panhandle after sunrise. Storms quickly redeveloped by early afternoon as heating destabilized the atmosphere. A very brief, yet strong thunderstorm over Espanola, dropped nickel size hail that covered the ground. Isolated thunderstorms drifted east across the plains through the remainder of the day. Sumner Lake picked up quarter size hail and Clayton saw penny size hail. Crisp, dry conditions developed across New Mexico for several days after this extended period of active weather.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.0000, -106.0700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 650365. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.