Alert archive / New Mexico / Red Flag Warnings in 2026

Red Flag Warning 4, NWS Albuquerque, NM

February 16, 20269 counties in New Mexico

NWS Albuquerque, NM issued this red flag warning at Feb 16, 2026, 1:49 AM MST for 9 counties in New Mexico. It took effect at Feb 17, 2026, 10:00 AM MST. It was in force for 9 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Feb 16, 2026, 1:49 AM MST (08:49 UTC)
In effect from
Feb 17, 2026, 10:00 AM MST
Expired
Feb 17, 2026, 7:00 PM MST
In force
9 hr
Issued by
NWS Albuquerque, NM

Counties Colfax County, NM, Curry County, NM, De Baca County, NM, Harding County, NM, Mora County, NM, Quay County, NM, Roosevelt County, NM, San Miguel County, NM, Union County, NM

The radar

The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:49 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 214 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2026-02-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2026-02-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -3 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
3122 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this red flag warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before this red flag warning went out at Feb 16, 1:30 AM MST, 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 16, 1:30 AM MST, 19 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

Everything else NWS Albuquerque, NM issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 16, 12:01 AM MSTWinter Storm WatchABQColfax, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos12 hr
Feb 16, 11:33 AM MSTHigh Wind WarningABQBernalillo, Chaves, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe and 11 more32 hr
Feb 16, 11:33 AM MSTWind AdvisoryABQBernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley and 7 more32 hr
Feb 16, 11:53 AM MSTWinter Storm WarningABQColfax, Mora, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos29 hr
Feb 16, 11:53 AM MSTWinter Weather AdvisoryABQMcKinley, San Juan29 hr
Feb 16, 12:23 PM MSTFire Weather WatchABQBernalillo, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding and 10 more39 hr

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in New Mexico, 2026Every red flag warning in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.