Wildfire, Lincoln
- When
- March 24, 1:30 PM MST to March 26, 6:00 PM MST
- Where
- Lincoln County, 5 mi E of Alto
- Property damage
- $5.0 million
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 33.745, -105.459 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in New Mexico, March 24 to 26, 2002
Winds of 45 to 55 mph whipped an accidential fire into a fast moving wildfire that consumed 12,000 acres and 20 homes before crews and air tank attacks gained control in much lighter winds.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $5.0 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
Winds of 45 to 55 mph whipped an accidential fire into a fast moving wildfire that consumed 12,000 acres and 20 homes before crews and air tank attacks gained control in much lighter winds.
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 Mar 24, 10:35 AM MST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 24, 10:35 AM MST, 2 hours 55 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 1035 AM MST SUN MAR 24 2002 ADDED SEVERAL ZONES TO WIND ADVISORY FOR THIS AFTERNOON. TWEAKED SOME TEMPS AND CLOUD COVER...AS BOUNDARY HAS REACHED NORTHEAST CORNER WELL AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. .ABQ...WIND ADVISORY THIS AFTERNOON NMZ010-011-014>021-026.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Rip Current in Florida, March 24, 2002
- Winter Storm in Ohio, March 24 to 25, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, March 24 to 25, 2002
- Winter Storm in Pennsylvania, March 24 to 25, 2002
- Tornado in Hawaii, March 24, 2002
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Oklahoma, March 24 to 25, 2002
- Winter Storm in Nebraska, March 24 to 25, 2002
- Winter Storm in Kansas, March 24, 2002
- Winter Storm in Nebraska, March 24 to 25, 2002
- Winter Storm in South Dakota, March 24, 2002
- High Wind in California, March 24, 2002
- Winter Storm in Kansas, March 24 to 25, 2002
More
Every storm in New Mexico in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, March 2002
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: 5280733.