High Wind in Texas, January 17, 1996

A wind event for the history books occurred with a peak wind gust of 128 mph at Guadalupe Pass. The sustained wind was hurricane force from about 1000 am until about 300 pm with a maximum sustained wind of 105 mph. Although the Pass is famous for wind events elderly ranchers in the area said they had never seen the wind blow so hard. The highest winds and most damage occurred in the mountainous zones, however strong to damaging winds occurred over most of the warning area.During the late morning much of the damage occurred in the mountainous areas, with the most substantial damage near Guadalupe Pass. A list of the more significant reports follows.At Guadalupe Mountains National Park about 20 vehicles sustained damage such as broken windows and paint being chipped off by blowing rocks. One stationary step van was overturned in a parking lot. The wind also ripped out over 100 feet of chainlink fence and threw picnic tables across campgrounds.On U.S. Highway 62/180 a double trailer truck was overturned at 1334 MST. Across the highway at a Department of Transportation facility a roof was blown off one building. During the event a coordination call to the site found an obviously shaken gentleman in fear that the roof of his building might give way to the wind at any moment. A series of power generating wind turbines located in a north-south line south of the pass sustained damage as well.Farther south, in southwestern Culberson County, a fatal vehicle accident occurred in the eastbound lane of I-10, 14 miles east of Van Horn at 1550 CST. the mishap was partially blamed on the low visibilities in the area. A 56 year old South Carolina man was killed when he drove his car into a parked trailer truck which had just been involved in an accident. The Department of Public Safety report stated that visibilities were ranging between 20 feet and 1/4 mile with a visibility of 50 feet being common during the clean up of the accident.