This is news, reported from the sources linked below. Details can change as a story develops; updates and corrections are dated on the story. Full notice.
Flash Flood Watches Cover Southwest Hiking Country Through Friday
Tropical moisture is bringing storms to Big Bend, the Guadalupe and Davis mountains, Sedona's canyons, the Superstitions and New Mexico burn scars. Stay out of washes, slot canyons and swimming holes.
The National Weather Service has flood and flash flood watches across much of the Southwest's best hiking country as another surge of tropical moisture meets an incoming storm system. In West Texas and southeast New Mexico, a watch runs through Friday afternoon for areas including the Chisos Basin and Lower Brewster County in Big Bend, the Guadalupe and Delaware mountains, the Davis Mountains and the Marfa Plateau. In New Mexico's Sacramento Mountains, the Albuquerque office warned of storms repeatedly crossing burn scars Thursday afternoon and evening, with 1 to 1.5 inches of rain possible.
In Arizona, the Flagstaff office has a flash flood watch from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday for Yavapai County, including Oak Creek and Sycamore canyons around Sedona, and northern Gila County, where soils are still saturated from flooding last week; it warns of flooding in creeks, normally dry washes, swimming holes and recently burned areas, with half an inch to an inch of rain and up to two inches in storms. The Phoenix office has watches Friday for the Superstition and Mazatzal mountains, the Tonto Basin and the Phoenix metro area.
If you are headed out: skip slot canyons and narrow washes until the watch ends, since a storm miles away can send water through a dry canyon under clear sky. Camp well above creek beds, never drive or walk into water over a low-water crossing, and check the latest from the Weather Service and the park or forest before you go. Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains national parks post road and trail closures on their alerts pages.
Sources