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Saturday, July 26, 2008
Remnants of Dolly Headed for N.M.
By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
The remnants of Hurricane Dolly lined up over northern Mexico on Friday, dumping rain and churning toward southwestern New Mexico.
The National Weather Service on Friday afternoon announced a flash flood watch as a result, saying there was a chance of flash flooding beginning this afternoon over a region from Gallup down through Silver City and Las Cruces, with 1 to 3 inches of rain possible on ground that is already saturated from summer rains.
Dolly had weakened substantially Friday afternoon, with its tropical-storm force winds gone. But by late Friday afternoon, it was dumping rain on El Paso. Fort Stockton in West Texas reported 1.08 inches of rain in a six-hour period, according to the Weather Service.
Through the weekend, the Weather Service is forecasting between 2 and 3 inches of rain in the high country of southwestern New Mexico. But by late Friday, there was still uncertainty about how far east the storm would get, according to Jesus Haro of the National Weather Service's Albuquerque office.
During a telephone briefing Friday afternoon, Haro urged state emergency managers to check forecasts today because of the possibility that the storm could track farther east.