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Large
Hail Pounds Albuquerque and Other Areas Late on the 4th and 5th
| At least six thunderstorms over a 16 hour period
sent Albuquerque Metro area residents scurrying for cover or woke them
from their sleep, as they rumbled their way across the Duke city. What
was unusual about these storms, aside from so many in a relatively short
period of time, was they all contained large hail, between 0.75 and 1.75
inches in diameter. What created such an occurrence? It was
the combination of a strong surface cold front that spread moisture south
across the state on the 4th, and a slow moving upper level trough of low
pressure. The infrared satellite image to the right, overlaid with
500mb heights, shows the storm system centered over southwest Colorado
during the late afternoon of the 5th.
The first two hail producing storms actually formed at night,
a rare event for Albuquerque. The Doppler radar loop below
from Albuquerque shows the progression of the storms over a 3 hour
period. The first storm produced penny to nickel size hail
across roughly the northern half of the city between 1000pm and
1100pm. The second storm followed quickly behind the first,
producing up to 1.75 inch hail in Paradise Hills around 1230am. Up
to three inches of hail accumulation was reported from these storms. Leaves
and some branches were stripped from trees. This combination
of hail accumulation and leaves clogged many drainage systems and
resulted in street flooding.
The second batch of severe thunderstorms moved into the city during
the late morning of the 5th, with 4 storms crossing the metro area
between 1000am and 130pm. The radar loop below and to the
right shows the progression of the storms. Up to one and
a half inch hail was reported from these storms, with Rio Rancho
and Alameda receiving the brunt of the large hail. The last
image also shows Belen being rocked by a severe storm that produced
1.75 inch hail. |

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Albuquerque was not the only area to be hit with hail. Several
other locations received large, damaging hail, including Belen, Socorro,
near Encino, Picacho, Vaughn, Lovington and between Dexter and Hagerman. Particularly
hard hit was Socorro and the Hagerman area. The Albuquerque radar
image below and to the left reveals the storm that produced up to three
inch hail in Socorro, and caused millions of dollars in damage (click
here for an image). At the same time the 7th and final hail
producing thunderstorm moved across Albuquerque. The Cannon Air
Force Base radar image below and to the right shows the three storms
that moved across southern Chaves county, delivering heavy rain and large
hail. Nearly three and a half inches of rain was reported from
Weather Bug data in Hagerman, while hail up to 2.50 inches was reported
between Greenfield and Hagerman. The two photos shown farther below
were taken by Steven Johnson of Roswell, with the pictures taken in the
Hagerman area on the afternoon of the 5th. |
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| Hail was not the only significant weather between
the 4th and 7th. There were numerous reports of funnel clouds on
the 5th, including a couple of reports west of Albuquerque around 1230pm
on the 5th. Around 130pm there was a report of a funnel and brief
tornado touchdown just west of Belen, then at 330pm on the 5th a tornado
reportedly touched down briefly between Estancia and MacIntosh in Torrance
county. Finally, several calls came in of funnel clouds between 330pm
and 515pm from near Roswell to Hagerman. A tornado was reported just
northeast of Bitter Lake around 335pm. The photo below shows an impressive
wall cloud near Hagerman during the afternoon of the 5th. Heavy rain
produced some flash flooding as well across the state, primarily the eastern
plains. The table below lists some of the 3 day rainfall totals from
the 4th through 7th. Click here
for an image displaying estimated rainfall totals for the 1st 7 days
of October. |
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| Rainfall
Totals From the 4th - 7th |
| Location |
Rain
Amount (inches) |
| Around
Portales |
3.47
- 3.82 |
| Clovis |
3.52 |
| Melrose |
3.25 |
| Santa
Rosa |
2.89 |
| Fort
Sumner |
2.51 |
| Las
Vegas |
1.88 |
| Tucumcari |
1.63
- 1.66 |
| Picacho |
1.39 |
| Roswell |
1.24 |
| around
Albuquerque |
~
0.33 to 1.33 inches |
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