EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A more active monsoon season compared to previous years has brought numerous weather threats with deadly outcomes to parts of the Borderland region.
This comes as Central Texas has been dealing with its own disaster — a massive flash flood that has killed more than 100 people.
The recent natural disasters call into question how the National Weather Service alerts communities and what other threats still loom in the forecast.
For the Southwest, monsoon season runs from June 15 to Sept. 30. The NWS said on June 19 that the region would have equal chances to see either below or above-average precipitation chances, a probability that has since been leaning toward above normal.
“We are definitely seeing a more active monsoon this year compared to the years past. I know, 2024, 2023, they were especially super hot, but now it looks like we have a really nice monsoonal pattern going on and we’re actually looking to be around near normal, thankfully this year,” said Katie Slusher a meteorologist with the NWS at the Santa Teresa office.
For areas like El Paso, the monsoon rains bring needed relief to the desert landscape but for other areas, like Southern New Mexico, the storms create flood threats especially along wildfire burn scars. While flooding remains a major concern — being America’s second deadliest weather event after heat — other threats accompany severe storms.
“Besides the flooding rains, we see a few other things — hail, blowing dust and gusty outflow winds. We’ve been seeing that a lot this monsoon season,” Slusher said.
The chances for more severe storms and hazardous weather aren’t over yet, with forecasters spotting more moisture on the radars.
“We have a little bull’s-eye of above normal precipitation expected. So yeah, we can probably expect some more rain in the month of August. August is actually one of the wetter months for El Paso,” Slusher said.
As meteorologists prepare for incoming storms, they share when communities get alerts and what the different tiers mean.
“First one is just a base warning. That’s not going to alert your phone, but it’s going to say, ‘Hey, we’re expecting some heavy rain. Maybe you should take some precautions right now.’ The next tier would be a considerable tag that will alert your phone. That is like a tier above, like, ‘OK, we’re seeing some pretty significant flooding definitely get to higher ground.’ Then the top tier is called a flash flood emergency. That will absolutely alert your phone and that is as bad as it’s going to get,” Slusher said.
Slusher said forecasters at the weather service push alerts as soon as they see a threat to public safety, urging the community to act with extreme caution when these alerts go out.
“When you get one of those alerts, specifically flash flood warnings, take those very seriously. We don’t just put those out for nothing. You know, we are putting those out because we feel like there’s a threat to safety,” Slusher said.
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