Gusty winds developed ahead of the passage of a strong, but dry cold front that moved northwest to southeast across the state. One building lost a roof in Los Alamos, while power outages were reported in Albuquerque from gusts over 50 mph.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.
Gusty winds developed ahead of the passage of a strong, but dry cold front that moved northwest to southeast across the state. One building lost a roof in Los Alamos, while power outages were reported in Albuquerque from gusts over 50 mph.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Dec 21, 3:57 AM MST, 10 hours 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
357 AM MST FRI DEC 21 2001
BIGGEST WEATHER CONCERN REALLY IS WIND FOR TODAY INTO TONIGHT WITH
ADVISORY CRITERIA WIND MOST LIKELY ACROSS CENTRAL MOUNTAIN CHAIN
EASTWARD. LAPSE RATES...H7 WINDS...SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT ARE
AMONG THE FACTORS THAT SEEM TO SUPPORT ADVISORY. THOUGHT OF LEAVING
IT OUT FOR CHAVES AND ROOSEVELT COUNTIES...SINCE GRADIENT WILL BE
LESS SUPPORTIVE THERE...BUT WITH AFTERNOON TEMPS GETTING WAY UP INTO
THE 60S BELIEVE MIXING WILL BE AIDED. WHILE A LOT OF HIGH CLOUDS E
HALF RIGHT NOW DO EXPECT SOME SUN LATER TODAY TO HELP MIX DOWN THE
STRONGER WINDS. TONIGHT THE EAST SLOPES CENTRAL MOUNTAIN CHAIN COULD
SUSTAIN NEAR TO ABOVE CRITERIA WINDS...BUT BECOMING MORE LOCALIZED AS
MORE STABLE AIRMASS COMING IN ENCOURAGING PERHAPS SOME MOUNTAIN WAVE
ACTION. DO BELIEVE EASTERN PLAINS SHOULD DROP BELOW CRITERIA AN HOUR
OR TWO EITHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT. AS FOR PCPN WITH THIS
WEAKENING/SHEARING SYSTEM...STAYED PRETTY CLOSE TO PREVIOUS
FORECAST AS STILL LARGELY SUPPORTED BY THE MODELS. DO NOT LOOK FOR
SNOW ADVISORY AMOUNTS...WHICH WOULD ONLY BE A POSSIBILITY IN THE
NW...TO BE WIDESPREAD ENOUGH BY ANY MEANS TO SUPPORT SNOW ADVISORY
ISSUANCE. BUT DO LOOK FOR SOME SPOTTY MOSTLY LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS.
SYSTEM PRETTY MOISTURE STARVED AS AZ STILL HIGH AND DRY AS OF THIS
WRITING AS BEST I CAN TELL. LOOKING FARTHER AHEAD WILL HAVE TO WATCH
THE SUNDAY PM INTO MON PERIOD FOR A NW TO SE DIVER AND AGAIN PERHAPS
MIDWEEK NEXT WEEK. NO BIG CHANGES TO EXTENDED OTHER THAN TO MENTION
FOR NOW SOME SMALL CHANCES SHSN ROUGHLY NE THIRD. HARD TO SAY YET
WHERE THE MAIN DYNAMICS OF THIS ONE WILL TRACK. 43
ABQ BB 054/025 044/020 045 43010
SAF BB 050/020 040/014 041 43121
TCC NB 066/030 051/020 044 43000
.ABQ...WIND ADVISORY TODAY AND TONIGHT
NMZ010-011-016-017-026
WIND ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
NMZ005>007-012>013-018>0213 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, December 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5276264, 5276265, 5276266.