Topic: One thing about New Mexico...

[Chris H.]

As I was driving around Albuquerque today (I drove a total of 131 miles today...within city limits  ), I watched the haze build up in the southwest skies...and obscure South Valley...and later Downtown. Skies over North Valley, Westside, and Rio Rancho were clear, sunny...and HOT. 95*F is the maximum I hit today. On top of that, I got my truck stuck on a dirt road. Thank God for friends LOL.

[Cienega32]

Hey! You post #500 and I had #400 - that's the way it should be in this NM thread! 

Bloody red sun going down and an eerie goldish moon coming up. Sure makes for interesting skies but I'm starting to feel it now. Eyes getting a little irritated while I was doing a nite time pool sweeping.

Fires popping up all over. Ruidiso, Clint - both on the other end of the wind but it's all over the place out here. I see you have your share of flames around you as well, Chris.

The Clint fire is burning in and around a sub-division. The biggest problem? No fire hydrants. Just how in the hell do you build a sub-division with no hydrants anywhere??? The stupidity of that amazes me.
 

[Chris H.]

Bloody red sun going down and an eerie goldish moon coming up. Sure makes for interesting skies but I'm starting to feel it now. Eyes getting a little irritated while I was doing a nite time pool sweeping.

Had my fair share of that crap. I hated it. Beautiful nonetheless. But the air quality sunk like a stone.

Fires popping up all over. Ruidiso, Clint - both on the other end of the wind but it's all over the place out here. I see you have your share of flames around you as well, Chris.

I do have my fair share of flames...

New Mexico be burning in a blaze o' gloray.

The Clint fire is burning in and around a sub-division. The biggest problem? No fire hydrants. Just how in the hell do you build a sub-division with no hydrants anywhere??? The stupidity of that amazes me.

What the eff?  
 

[Cienega32]

That's what the news said. I had to play it back just to be sure. No hydrants in the area.

[Downlinerz2]

That's what the news said. I had to play it back just to be sure. No hydrants in the area.

    On Inciweb there is a place to see NASA Earth Observations of the wildfires.  Here are a few links to them.   
        http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=50916
        http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=50885
        http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=50871
   Mark

[Chris H.]

WOW 

That's amazing.

[SLOweather]

The Clint fire is burning in and around a sub-division. The biggest problem? No fire hydrants. Just how in the hell do you build a sub-division with no hydrants anywhere??? The stupidity of that amazes me.
 

Perhaps all the homes are on individual wells? Around here, if you are on a well, the county fire dept requires an accessible on-site 2000 tank with a standard valve and fire hose fitting so they can hook an engine to it and draft out of it.

[Downlinerz2]

The Clint fire is burning in and around a sub-division. The biggest problem? No fire hydrants. Just how in the hell do you build a sub-division with no hydrants anywhere??? The stupidity of that amazes me.
 

Perhaps all the homes are on individual wells? Around here, if you are on a well, the county fire dept requires an accessible on-site 2000 tank with a standard valve and fire hose fitting so they can hook an engine to it and draft out of it.

   Some of the areas villages around here farther out are like that.  I hear on my scanners, the Department where the fire is always calling mutual support  from neighboring departments for tankers.  A lot of places have ponds now too so the FD can draft right out of them as well.  The codes here call for a house to be built up on a grade and the cheapest way to get the dirt is to dig a pond.
    Mark

[Cienega32]

The Clint fire is burning in and around a sub-division. The biggest problem? No fire hydrants. Just how in the hell do you build a sub-division with no hydrants anywhere??? The stupidity of that amazes me.
 

Perhaps all the homes are on individual wells? Around here, if you are on a well, the county fire dept requires an accessible on-site 2000 tank with a standard valve and fire hose fitting so they can hook an engine to it and draft out of it.

Good point! I'll have to look into that.

There are areas out here that are full blown barrio/anapra type neighborhoods with no infrastructure to speak of but I don't think that's one of them. An on-site tank makes sense in this case.

[Cienega32]

El Paso had their 6th day of triple digit temps today. I still have only the one - 100.9 on the 15th.

[Chris H.]

El Paso had their 6th day of triple digit temps today. I still have only the one - 100.9 on the 15th.

Whew. That's hot. *pant pant pant*


Rio Rancho saw 94*F today. Albuquerque saw 95*F.

Anything over 90*F is too hot.

[Farmtalk]

I can handle the 90s as long as the humidity isnt too bad....but this year the humidity has been high.

[wxtech]

I can handle the 90s as long as the humidity isnt too bad....but this year the humidity has been high.

I moved from Albuquerque, NM to Athens, GA.  The first summer here, I felt like I needed to swim through the air; part it so I could walk. 
It's now 74ºF & 70% humidity.  We haven't hit the tripple digits temperature this year, it's still Spring.  We'll probably see 102-103 for a few days.  90º/45% is common this month.  The rains are such a blessing, clears the air.

[Farmtalk]

Around here, we are around 90F/40% or 95F/35%...It's still pretty rough at times....and if it rains in the mornings, then the heating in the afternoon will still cause it to hit 90F, but with a dew point of 75F instead of 65F.

[Downlinerz2]

    This Wundermap crossection through New Mexico shows how dry it is near the surface and aloft.  Compared to other places, like up here in Ohio it is clearly visible to see the difference.
    Mark

[Chris H.]

RFW's turning the map pink today. And my nose has detected smoke thanks to the SSW winds this afternoon (don't forget the dust beginning to kick up). So it's a smokey, dusty, windy as all hell, hot, afternoon. What a combination. Saaaaay...aren't we supposed to get rain soon? 

[Cienega32]

That's all it was Sunday for me as well. Constant winds up to 30+MPH and 99.9 degrees for a high.

2 days of opening/cleaning the pool is somewhere underneath the solid layer of desert on the bottom of it. 

[Chris H.]

Well I noticed a huge temp drop last night. My station registered 71.6*F at 8:00 PM. 8:30 PM: 67.2*F. 9:00PM: 62.6*F. 9:30: 60.2*F.

By midnight last night, it was 57*F. Went outside this morning and noticed the lack of heat. If only it had rained too. Drat. 

[Downlinerz2]

   I was hoping there would be a little rain, or least a chance.  Watching the satellite there was an increase in the clouds there for a time.
   I do hope they get the fires under more control very soon.  The Wallow Fire is at 51% but the growth potential is extreme.  You guys, Pat and Chris, and everyone down there need a break (ya think?)!! I am not even hearing much about it on TV anymore. Oops well, Lou Dobbs just as I am writing said lower winds are aiding firefighters in the Monument Fire in Arizona. I cannot see any smoke plumes on vis sat images currently. And, I didn't hear anything about the Fort Apache Reservation having almost 13,000 acres burned.  My dad always said "what didn't make the news is usually the most important part of the story"!
    Hope and pray it rains soon!
      Mark
     

[Chris H.]

The Wallow fire is burning far less as potent as where it was just a couple weeks ago. It's moving towards the desert on the base of the mountains where it started, as well as towards more potential fuel. Had it not been for the current efforts of firefighters, I'm sure the southern edge of this fire would be out of control and I'd still be smoking up here in the Albuquerque area.

[Cienega32]

They're catching a break with the low(er) winds lately. 56% containment now - 528,000 acres lost to the Wallow fire.

The additional warnings now for that area - high potential for flash flooding.


Low 60s mid 90s for me the last two days and easy winds today. The upcoming forecast? "HOT" - 102s for the weekend.

No worries here... just finished replacing the sand in the filter, the raft is inflated and the small patio fridge is plugged in. Bring it on!

It sure looks naked with the three dead, frondless palms tho'...

[Downlinerz2]

Pat,
    Take a cannon-ball for me!!!
     Mark

[Cienega32]

Another thing that the drought has provided is wildlife that doesn't usually venture down from the higher elevations. There have been quite a few reports of big cats (Bob & Mountain) being noticed. In one case, shot as he was trapped in a car wash and trying to escape. Lots of comments about that one but such is life. Another had a video of a cat just lounging in the shade grooming outside their kitchen window.

When I first moved here in 2006, I watched a cat walking my back wall at nite and (I think) a coyote perched on another wall that first summer. All I could see of him was the eyes and the general outline.

Back then, I could hear the coyote chorus every nite. That was pretty cool. They've been developing the area that the music came from and I don't hear quite as many or as often. Shame but you have to wonder about instincts bringing them back and having property owners or animal control shooting them.

[Downlinerz2]

    I have to say it makes me crazy when people move into areas that are populated with wildlife and then kills them. When someone is in imenent danger is one thing but just indiscriminatly shooting them because they are there, drives me to fits.  
    Mark

[Cienega32]

Yesterday, they found a bear in the SW edge of town. Closest area for them is 100 miles away.

The cat that was shot in El Paso they were able to corral in a car wash but improperly secured the metal gate at the end of machine. Two securement points and they only caught the bottom one. The cat was trying to get thru the top when they shot him. Tranks didn't slow him down at all, with all the adrenalin he was pumping. They pretty much put the cat in the state of frenzy that resulted in his being shot, IMHO.