Name: High Wind in New Mexico, February 7, 2001
Start: 2001-02-07T06:00
End: 2001-02-07T10:00
Location: New Mexico

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.

An early morning period of high winds swept over the Sacramento Mountains and nearby communities of Ruidoso, Nogal, Capitan and Carrizozo as a strong upper level disturbance approached from the west..

What forecasters said that day

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 Feb 7, 3:30 AM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 7, 3:30 AM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
330 AM MST WED FEB 7 2001

STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM CONTINUES TO DIG THROUGH THE GREAT BASIN
INTO A POSITION ACROSS THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST. SATELLITE WATER
VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS THIS TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED JET STILL ALONG
WESTERN EDGE OF THE TROUGH...SO THINK THIS SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO
LAG TO THE WEST...AND WHEN THE JET MAX ROUNDS THE BASE OF THE
TROUGH...EXPECT THE SYSTEM TO MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS NEW
MEXICO...PROBABLY THURSDAY INTO EARLY FRIDAY.

MODEL DATA SUGGESTS SIGNIFICANT MOUNTAIN SNOWS WITH SOME LOWER
ELEVATION SNOW. CURRENT THINKING IS THAT LOWER ELEVATIONS WILL SEE
THE SNOW AS THE COLD CORE MOVES ACROSS THE CENTRAL PART OF THE
STATE. THE MOUNTAINS WILL BEGIN TO PICK UP SNOW LATE
TODAY...INCREASING TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. THE NORTHEAST HIGHLAND AND
SANGRE DE CRISTO RANGE WILL LIKELY SEE THE SNOW THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY.
THEREFORE WILL ISSUE A WINTER STORM WATCH FOR TONIGHT AND THURSDAY.

OTHER FACTORS...LOOKED AT NPW POSSIBILITY FOR WINDS IN THE WEST AND
NORTHEAST. THE WINDS SPEEDS LOOK TO BE IN THE 20 TO 30 MPH RANGE WITH
STRONGER GUSTS. THIS IS JUST BELOW NPW CRITERIA AND WILL HOLD OFF ON
HIGHLIGHTS...AND HANDLE IN THE ZONES.

ONCE THIS STORM SYSTEM MOVES INTO THE PLAINS...NEW MEXICO WILL BE
UNDER A SHORTWAVE RIDGE FOR A DAY OR TWO...THEN ANOTHER LARGE SCALE
TROUGH DEVELOPS OVER THE WESTERN STATES AND MIGRATES TOWARD THE FOUR
CORNERS REGION...CREATING A PERIOD OF UNSETTLED WEATHER SUNDAY
THROUGH TUESDAY.  KMV

ABQ EO 058/035 043/023 045 33134
SAF EJ 051/030 040/017 043 33235
TCC NO 065/034 044/018 045 33023

.ABQ...WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT AND THURSDAY NMZ001-002-004>007.

Event by event

2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Capitan/Northern Sacramento Mountains / Sc Lincoln

When: February 7, 6:00 AM MST to 10:00 AM MST
Where: Capitan/Northern Sacramento Mountains / Sc Lincoln forecast zone
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph)
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

High Wind, Lincoln County High Plains/Hondo Valley / Lincoln Except Sc

When: February 7, 6:00 AM MST to 10:00 AM MST
Where: Lincoln County High Plains/Hondo Valley / Lincoln Except Sc forecast zone
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Mexico in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in New Mexico, February 2001

Sources

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: 5234842, 5234843.