A fine way to wind down the Monsoon season in southern New Mexico

[Cienega32]

At 3:15PM it was 83.6 degrees, partly sunny and the blue-grey clouds started moving in, carrying those long, deep throated rumbles.

Around 3:30ish it started raining. Around 3:45, it started to pour and some hail.

By 4:15PM the numbers looked like this:

2.08 inches of rain
8.73 inches per hour peak rain rate but it stayed over 6 most of the time
43MPH wind
55.7 degrees

That's not to mention all the marble-sized hail that came out to be a little over an inch deep in my fully flooded yard.

My two 4" drains going thru the block wall on the low side of the property could not, in any way, keep up. I ended up with about 10" of water in a low 50' by 75' area. The hail was nothing but a big 1 or 2 inch sheet of lumpy ice on top of it and walking thru it made me feel like an Arctic ice cutter. I spent an hour shoveling hail out of that area.

Under all my flat roof scupper drains, were 3' round piles of hail about 18" tall.

The best part was emptying to waste (to that low area, of course...) about 2" of water in the 16x32 inground pool that was about to flow over in another area that couldn't drain because of the hail ice jam on the other side of the house.

I love the desert... never a dull moment.

[ocala]

Man, don't you just love a good thunderstorm like that.

[wxtech]

Brings back the memories.  5 years and later 14 years in Albuquerque.  That's probably 20% of your annual rain in one day.  I've been up to my ankles in water there trying to encourage it to flow.  The streets become dangerous fast flowing rivers.
Walls are more common there than in the East.  They block the natural flow. 
Monsoon rains are sometimes exciting but costly.  Hope you didn't have damage or injury.

[Cienega32]

No, damage or injury - thanks. We had about 5.5" prior to this storm.

I've got 3 skylites on the house and I was definitely watching that action but no cracks no leaks. The pool level dropped about 5" overnite so I now have a problem there. With my luck it'll be in the pipes underground.

Funny thing is, I moved here from Las Vegas NV 3 years back - that's a fun place for flash floods - and the first year we were hammered with rain - 17 or so inches. Everyone tells me "Oh that was so unusual!". Next year wasn't too bad. Last year? Hammered again! Half inch by the start of July and 15 inches by Sept.

The bad part is when it's all set up by a half inch of rain the day before. Saturates the ground too much for these gully washers.

I love when the City Council defends their lack of flood control (spending) with statements like "But that only happens once every 100 (or 500) years - that's why it's called a '100 year flood' event". 

I'm pleased to see the "Special Weather Statement" running all morning. Can't wait for this next one...

[Cienega32]

The pool level dropped about 5" overnite so I now have a problem there. With my luck it'll be in the pipes underground.

Well, that's embarrassing...

The pool dropped to the skimmer floor level because after I emptied it to waste, I left the multi-port on 'WASTE' thinking I would be doing more. I intended to remove the "ON" dog from the timer and that, combined with the waste valve I forgot, has made me humbly realize that at 57 I am finally getting old...

Oh wait! I can blame it on all the excitement of the flooding! Yeah, that's the ticket! Whew!

[wxtech]

The pool level dropped about 5" overnite so I now have a problem there. With my luck it'll be in the pipes underground.

Well, that's embarrassing...

The pool dropped to the skimmer floor level because after I emptied it to waste, I left the multi-port on 'WASTE' thinking I would be doing more. I intended to remove the "ON" dog from the timer and that, combined with the waste valve I forgot, has made me humbly realize that at 57 I am finally getting old...

Oh wait! I can blame it on all the excitement of the flooding! Yeah, that's the ticket! Whew!

Or you could say; "I never made an error.  I thought I made an error once, but I was wrong."

[Chris H.]

Here it is nearly 5 days later and the Albuquerque Metro southward is now a big frickin' flooded region. My high school's lower floors had to get pumped out today because of the three hours of rain we had this morning. And the last week I've been walking to school in nearly two inches of mud. Thank the military for combat boots! They're soooo much more fun to use in mud (until you slip..hahaha )..my friend had to take streets because his crappy sk8r shoes literally came off his foot when he took a step in the mud. And this afternoon he had to get a ride because the arroyo's around here were rivers. Which, while not bad (since they're still dirt in Rio Rancho), made it a bitch to cross this afternoon. They weren't raging, but there was some substantial flow I had to jump across here and there. I know, shame on me for going in an arroyo..but I love venturing into the wet desert. My totals for rain here totalled 1.74 inches in the last 48 hours. For the month of September: 3.20 inches. We're finally getting somewhere. Can't wait for the winter. I love snow too!!!  Especially with the steep hills around here..