Shawn Salley
@swsalley.bsky.social
Soil scientist in the Mesilla Valley & Jornada,
Soil Geography, Soil Change & Ecological Sites.
Soil Geography, Soil Change & Ecological Sites.
Isaacks Lake in the Jornada Basin filled this week.
This is the 2nd year in a row it’s filled, after staying dry for over a decade. Photos looking east from the ground this year and the air last year.
This is the 2nd year in a row it’s filled, after staying dry for over a decade. Photos looking east from the ground this year and the air last year.
July 26, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Isaacks Lake in the Jornada Basin filled this week.
This is the 2nd year in a row it’s filled, after staying dry for over a decade. Photos looking east from the ground this year and the air last year.
This is the 2nd year in a row it’s filled, after staying dry for over a decade. Photos looking east from the ground this year and the air last year.
The Rio Grande started flowing today south of Elephant Butte reservoir.
waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-l...
waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-l...
April 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
The Rio Grande started flowing today south of Elephant Butte reservoir.
waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-l...
waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-l...
The Rio coming into Big Bend is moving at 500 cfs after spotty spring rain.
water.noaa.gov/gauges/CSTT2
water.noaa.gov/gauges/CSTT2
March 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The Rio coming into Big Bend is moving at 500 cfs after spotty spring rain.
water.noaa.gov/gauges/CSTT2
water.noaa.gov/gauges/CSTT2
The recent storm was not as record setting, but still transported New Mexico’s soil out to the east coast.
March 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The recent storm was not as record setting, but still transported New Mexico’s soil out to the east coast.
The second bomb cyclone came close to the Dodge City’s record. Which I think was on March 14, 2019; hit 974.7mb; generated 104 mph winds in New Mexico; and was lowest pressure in Dodge since 1878. 3/
March 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The second bomb cyclone came close to the Dodge City’s record. Which I think was on March 14, 2019; hit 974.7mb; generated 104 mph winds in New Mexico; and was lowest pressure in Dodge since 1878. 3/
The first storm set a near record low pressure reading in KC area. 2/
March 21, 2025 at 3:04 PM
The first storm set a near record low pressure reading in KC area. 2/
These three bomb cyclones were really powerful storms. 1/
March 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
These three bomb cyclones were really powerful storms. 1/
This same storm blew through Las Cruces, New Mexico yesterday (or what will be 2 days earlier and 1990 miles away from the Capitol Building). Note that Boise City, OK to Washington, DC was only 1555 miles away.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
#DustBowl2025
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
#DustBowl2025
March 20, 2025 at 1:32 AM
This same storm blew through Las Cruces, New Mexico yesterday (or what will be 2 days earlier and 1990 miles away from the Capitol Building). Note that Boise City, OK to Washington, DC was only 1555 miles away.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
#DustBowl2025
www.pbs.org/wgbh/america...
#DustBowl2025
Around 3:00 the whole Chihuahuan Desert and High Plains started to mobilize.
col.st/9cmQE
col.st/9cmQE
March 18, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Around 3:00 the whole Chihuahuan Desert and High Plains started to mobilize.
col.st/9cmQE
col.st/9cmQE
Whoa! The wind on San Augustine Pass (between Las Cruces and White Sands) is gusting over 90 mph.
windalert.com/spot/90118
windalert.com/spot/90118
March 18, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Whoa! The wind on San Augustine Pass (between Las Cruces and White Sands) is gusting over 90 mph.
windalert.com/spot/90118
windalert.com/spot/90118
Emergency alerts started at Noon today. The sky turned brown starting at 12:30, then dust and wind became dangerous by 3:00.
March 18, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Emergency alerts started at Noon today. The sky turned brown starting at 12:30, then dust and wind became dangerous by 3:00.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is off the charts, at 1644 or ‘Beyond Index’
air-quality.com/place/e49e3f...
air-quality.com/place/e49e3f...
March 18, 2025 at 10:16 PM
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is off the charts, at 1644 or ‘Beyond Index’
air-quality.com/place/e49e3f...
air-quality.com/place/e49e3f...
Blowing dust storm in the Mesilla Valley. Maybe 0.25 mile visibility. #DustBowl2025
March 18, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Blowing dust storm in the Mesilla Valley. Maybe 0.25 mile visibility. #DustBowl2025
Today’s dust storm phone emergency warning. This is much earlier in the morning than yesterday’s, which started after 4pm.
March 14, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Today’s dust storm phone emergency warning. This is much earlier in the morning than yesterday’s, which started after 4pm.
March 13th dust storm. Visibility driving downwind of White Sands at sunset was ~ 1 mile.
March 14, 2025 at 3:23 AM
March 13th dust storm. Visibility driving downwind of White Sands at sunset was ~ 1 mile.
The third major dust storm on the Chihuahuan Desert this week. Satellite loop from March 7, 2025 using this nifty tool, col.st/po6tH
March 8, 2025 at 1:52 AM
The third major dust storm on the Chihuahuan Desert this week. Satellite loop from March 7, 2025 using this nifty tool, col.st/po6tH
New theory, here’s a record of a semi-arid grassland transitioned to an arid shrubland. An incipient desert pavement (V, platy surface) atop the skelton of an old grassland A horizon (carbon now burned off). Surface gravel is only thing holding the soil surface from collapse.
February 27, 2025 at 3:55 AM
New theory, here’s a record of a semi-arid grassland transitioned to an arid shrubland. An incipient desert pavement (V, platy surface) atop the skelton of an old grassland A horizon (carbon now burned off). Surface gravel is only thing holding the soil surface from collapse.
Here is a cobbley-sandy soil on one of Organ Mountain’s monzonite alluvial fans. The B horizon looked like it’s actively loosing all of its soil structure and aggregate stability.
February 26, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Here is a cobbley-sandy soil on one of Organ Mountain’s monzonite alluvial fans. The B horizon looked like it’s actively loosing all of its soil structure and aggregate stability.
Soil type has a major influence on desert seed bank density and richness, and even with ecological state change, native perennial grasses still dominate desert soil seedbanks.
New paper in Journal of Arid Environments led by Kristen Romig. authors.elsevier.com/c/1kPbkVu805...
New paper in Journal of Arid Environments led by Kristen Romig. authors.elsevier.com/c/1kPbkVu805...
January 9, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Soil type has a major influence on desert seed bank density and richness, and even with ecological state change, native perennial grasses still dominate desert soil seedbanks.
New paper in Journal of Arid Environments led by Kristen Romig. authors.elsevier.com/c/1kPbkVu805...
New paper in Journal of Arid Environments led by Kristen Romig. authors.elsevier.com/c/1kPbkVu805...
The landscape model that soil survey came up with is the Aransas-Victine-Narta soil system with a taxonomic gradient of (same order): Fine-Typic Natraquerts, Fine-Vertic Natraqualfs, Fine-Sodic Haplusterts.
archive.org/details/refu...
archive.org/details/refu...
November 27, 2024 at 1:57 PM
The landscape model that soil survey came up with is the Aransas-Victine-Narta soil system with a taxonomic gradient of (same order): Fine-Typic Natraquerts, Fine-Vertic Natraqualfs, Fine-Sodic Haplusterts.
archive.org/details/refu...
archive.org/details/refu...
SSSA Pedology field trip’s Udic day (a few weeks late) was where the Guadalupe River deltas into San Antonio Bay with clayey to loamy gradient of soils formed in recent alluvium and marine sediment; on coastal flood plains and low terraces.
November 27, 2024 at 1:56 PM
SSSA Pedology field trip’s Udic day (a few weeks late) was where the Guadalupe River deltas into San Antonio Bay with clayey to loamy gradient of soils formed in recent alluvium and marine sediment; on coastal flood plains and low terraces.
Interesting read showing “Land management strategies should integrate scale-specific insights”
Spatial scale drives pedi diversity-elevation relationship in Botswana
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Spatial scale drives pedi diversity-elevation relationship in Botswana
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 27, 2024 at 1:17 PM
Interesting read showing “Land management strategies should integrate scale-specific insights”
Spatial scale drives pedi diversity-elevation relationship in Botswana
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Spatial scale drives pedi diversity-elevation relationship in Botswana
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Ustic day near Uvalde, TX included a bottomland vertisol (Calcic Haplousterts) and upland mollisols in basalt (Aridic Calciustolls) and limestone (Petrocalcic Calciustolls).
November 17, 2024 at 10:11 PM
Ustic day near Uvalde, TX included a bottomland vertisol (Calcic Haplousterts) and upland mollisols in basalt (Aridic Calciustolls) and limestone (Petrocalcic Calciustolls).
SSSA pedology tour on pedogenesis and the role of soil moisture regimes.
November 17, 2024 at 8:15 PM
SSSA pedology tour on pedogenesis and the role of soil moisture regimes.