Special Weather StatementIssued by the National Weather Service at 4:05 PM MDT on July 24, 2008
... Potential for a significant increase in rain coverage over the weekend...
The center of Dolly... only a depression as of late this afternoon... was located roughly 175 miles southeast of The Big Bend area and was heading to the west northwest. There is of course a lot of moisture with this system and... while the system will continue to weaken... it is looking increasingly likely that some of that moisture will track into some portion of New Mexico over the weekend. Computer model tracks are still changing somewhat... but as of this writing there is a pretty good chance that the remnants of this system will bring an increase in clouds and showers... along with a few thunderstorms... to western and central New Mexico starting Saturday and into at least Sunday. Eastern New Mexico has a lower but not insignificant chance of increasing shower and storm activity as well. The increase in cloud cover may lower somewhat the chance of thunderstorms in the densest portion of the cloud shield... but rain coverage will likely be greater than what has occurred the last 2 or 3 days. While there is still significant uncertainty as to the exact track of the heaviest rain potential for this system... the best estimate at this time is for the southwest then west central mountains region to be affected first... followed by the central... northwest plateau and north central mountains region.
For the latest information and possible later watches and other statement on this developing situation... please stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio... broadcast media and our local website at www.Srh.NOAA.Gov/abq.
