New Mexico Dealing With Wicked Weather Whiplash. Wildfires And Repeated Floods and Mudslides

Image released by the city of Ruidoso, New Mexico shows
just one example of the damage left behind by
wildfires, followed by debris flows and flash floods.

I'm sure you've seen plenty of posts about weather chaos in the United States this year.

One of the hardest hit and weirdest areas is New Mexico. They're dealing with both wildfires and flash floods. And hangovers from weather/climate disasters from the recent past. 

New Mexico is a classic example of the kind of weather whiplash we've seen in this worsening age of climate change: Weather goes from one extreme to the other, and sometimes back again. 

New Mexico's ground zero this year is Ruidoso, population of about 7,500 that was overrun by wildfires beginning on June 17.  

Two people died in the blazes, and larges swaths of the resort town were leveled.  The only recent good news out of Ruidoso came this week, when 29 people who were listed as unaccounted for have been found alive.

The wildfire destroyed about 1,400 structures, including roughly 500 homes.

The bad news is even before the fires were largely contained, and the day after the worst of the fire damage was done, intense storms swept into town, dumping torrential rains, large hail and even briefly created a tornado threat.

 Then last weekend, it got even worse. A flash flood swept through parts of town Saturday, forcing the evacuation of a number of residents and flooding homes.

An even more intense storm hit Sunday, with up to 4.5 inches of rain near the town. Water and debris flows swept through town, carrying more than a dozen cars away. News video shows plenty of destruction in and around Ruidoso because of the debris flows and flooding. 

One disaster after another. 

This mess wasn't limited To Ruidoso. Albuquerque was also hit Saturday, with much of that city's downtown flooded on Sunday. The basements of the main police station and city hall flooded. 

The city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, population about 13,000, suffered through wildfires two years ago. Flash flooding in the burn scar area in June contaminated the city's water supply, creating a crisis that shuttered businesses, and forced surrounding communities and volunteer groups to shuttle drinking water in.

That crisis in Las Vegas, New Mexico appears to be easing. But a heat wave is probably increasing fire risk. And the heart of monsoon season is also approaching, which could trigger more debris flows and flash floods in thunderstorms. 

Heat waves and monsoon storms have always occurred in New Mexico, of course. But the heat waves in general are getting hotter, the monsoons are at least occasionally getting heavier, and the ever increasing number of burn scars are making even "normal" weather harder to bear.

New Mexico is just one example of the varying ways climate change makes life that much more challenging.