N.M. Science
A science & weather blog by John Fleck
Related: Local Weather | Recent Articles by Fleck
Rising groundwater poses dilemma for Kirtland cleanup
A substantial amount of work is currently going into the development of a “soil vapor extraction” system at Kirtland Air Force base, part of aggressive effort to deal with contamination... Read more »
The decline of Elephant Butte, as seen from space
Elephant Butte is New Mexico’s largest reservoir. Sort of. When full, it holds about 2 million acre feet of water. Navajo Reservoir on the San Juan River, by comparison, holds... Read more »
Monsoon watch
With the monsoon moisture continuing to stream into New Mexico, chances are good for improvements in our drought conditions, according to the latest Seasonal Drought Outlook:
Capulin Spring, favorite birding spot in the Sandias, reopens
Judy Liddell, author of Birding Hot Spots of Central New Mexico, recently alerted me to the reopening of the Capulin Spring and its famous “log”. Located along the road to... Read more »
Fourth-warmest June in New Mexico history
The National Climatic Data Center’s monthly data dump is drawing attention because of the extremity of the June temperatures around the United States. Here’s the graph for New Mexico, with... Read more »
Monsoon watch
Here’s another measure of monsoon onset – getting caught out in a summer storm. And a lovely one it was. This is the Capulin Spring picnic area above the ski... Read more »
Albuquerque aquifer recovery continues
As I noted in a story yesterday, Albuquerque’s water utility is running its river diversion and treatment plant full blast right now, using as much surface water as it can... Read more »
I’m on the teevee box!
Laura Paskus and I sat down earlier this week with Matt Grubs at KNME to talk water. It’ll be on the television this evening, but since you’ve got one of... Read more »
Monsoon onset: an alternative measure
Brian Guyer, one of the forecasters at the National Weather Service’s Albuquerque office, came up last night with a neat alternative criterion for monsoon onset:
Monsoon watch
It feels good to start watching the monsoon after nearly a month spent anxiously anticipating its arrival. Wednesday stayed above a dewpoint of 47 in Albuquerque for the third day... Read more »
Monsoon watch
Unless something particularly bizarre happens in the next 13 hours, July 4 will meet our criteria for the “official” Albuquerque monsoon onset. Monday’s average dewpoint was 47.5, Tuesday’s was 51.8... Read more »
Without imported water, the Rio Grande would be dry in Albuquerque
The Rio Grande, now flowing at a paltry 600 cubic feet per second past Albuquerque’s Central Avenue bridge, would be completely dry if not for imported San Juan-Chama water now... Read more »
