Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Saturday featured rainstorms across the region. This image was captured at Curry County Road T and U.S. 60, just west of Cannon Air Force Base.
Much of the High Plains saw heavy rainfall for the first time this month on Saturday and fall's official arrival on Sunday has already produced considerably cooler temperatures.
Severe thunderstorms flooded roads, caused power outages and dropped more than 2 inches of rain across the area, with some locations in Bailey and Parmer counties reporting more than 3 inches of rain.
Albuquerque Meteorologist Carter Greulich said Clovis rain totals ranged from just over an inch at Clovis Regional Airport to 3/4 inch to 1 1/4 inch at other gauges around the city.
Portales recorded 1.23 inches of rain at the measuring point about three miles southwest of downtown Portales, and just over a half-inch north of town.
The agricultural research center north of Clovis reported a half inch of rain.
Greulich said the storm produced some hail, including ping-pong-ball sized hail near Ranchvale and 2-inch hail near the Chaves-DeBaca county line.
The Kakawate Road that connects Portales to Muleshoe was impassable for a few hours due to flooding. Curry and Roosevelt counties both saw power outages.
Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves wrote in an email Monday, "The initial information I've received showed seven momentary outages affecting 7,204 customers in the (Clovis-Portales area) and 38 sustained outages affecting 550 customers."
Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce interim Executive Director Karl Terry described Saturday's afternoon and evening storms as featuring spectacular cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.
While August produced record-setting high temperatures across New Mexico, September's temperatures have dropped an average of 10 degrees.
The ag research center reported August's high temperature averaged 95 degrees; the high has averaged 85 degrees so far this month.
The high temperature recorded Sept. 23 was 68 degrees. That's the coolest day in the region since May 12, when the high temperature was 59 degrees at the ag center.
The National Weather Service forecast for the High Plains, through the weekend, calls for sunny skies, daytime highs in the low to mid-80s and overnight lows in the mid-50s.
There is little chance of precipitation in the seven-day forecast.
