Rain, hail, wind plow into Albuquerque

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A fast-moving storm blasted into metro Albuquerque Friday afternoon dropping rain and hail while toppling trees and knocking out power just as the afternoon commute got underway.

The line of weather hit about 4 p.m. moving northeastward across the Rio Grande Valley dropping the first measurable rain at the Albuquerque Sunport since April 3.  By midnight the Sunport tallied 0.19 inches of rain although a weather spotter recorded 0,70 inches near Eubank Boulevard and Interstate 40.

Just before 4 p.m. the National Weather Service office at the Sunport logged a wind gust of 41 mph with another blast hitting 49 mph at 5:52 p.m.

A KRQE News 13 crew in the field reported a tree blown into a house in the 3500 block of Luke NW, and in the same area winds toppled a carport damaging a parked car.

.A special weather statement forecast hail up to 0.5 inches in diameter from the storm although residents later reported hail stones closer to the size of golf balls.

PNM reporter power outages affecting about 2,500 customers from north of downtown to the area of Candelaria Road and 12th Street.  Power is expected to be restored between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Two callers to KRQE News 13 reported seeing funnel clouds, but those reports could not be confirmed.

PNM blamed one outage affecting 1,360 customers on a downed power line near Luke NW and Rio Grande Boulevard.

By about 4:45 p.m. the active weather was moving out of the valley and into the Sandia and Manzano Mountains and Estancia Valley.  Moriarty later recorded 0.69 inches of rain.

Farther south storms charging eastward rolled over the Sacramento Mountains where a KRQE News 13 viewer in Ruidoso reported pea-sized hail and about 0.5 inches of rain.

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