High Wind in New Mexico, March 8, 2002

Name: High Wind in New Mexico, March 8, 2002
Start: 2002-03-08T13:00
End: 2002-03-08T13:00
Location: New Mexico

March 8, 2002 · NWS MAF · 1 event in 1 county or zone

NWS spotters reported a multi vehichle pile-up on Highway 285 3 miles north of Artesia. which significantly lowered visibilities.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $50,000
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 MAF wrote it up.

NWS spotters reported a multi vehichle pile-up on Highway 285 3 miles north of Artesia. The collision was the result of high winds and blowing dust...which significantly lowered visibilities. Damage amounts are estimated...and no injuries were reported. The winds were the result of a tight surface pressure gradient across southeast New Mexico.

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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 8, 10:09 AM MST, 2 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 8, 10:09 AM MST, 2 hours 51 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
1109 AM CST FRI MAR 8 2002

WILL SEND A ZONE AND NPW UPDATE SHORTLY TO UPGRADE WIND ADVISORY TO A
HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THE SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO PLAINS AND ANDREWS...
GAINES...AND DAWSON COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS.  40 TO 50 KT H7 WINDS
APPARENTLY MIXING TO THE SURFACE IN WESTERN EDDY COUNTY WHERE WINDS
ALREADY AT 35 KT SUSTAINED.  THINK THIS WILL CONTINUE/SPREAD EASTWARD
IN GOOD SUBSIDENT AREA ASSOCIATED WITH SHORTWAVE TROUGH AS BACK EDGE
OF CIRRUS MOVES EAST.  WILL LEAVE WIND ADVISORY GOING IN LOCATIONS
THAT ALREADY HAVE IT.  WILL BUMP AFTERNOON HIGHS AS TEMPERATURES
WARMING RAPIDLY IN VERY GOOD DOWNSLOPE WIND REGIME.

.MAF...
TX...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 700 PM CST TXZ045-046-050-258.
     WIND ADVISORY TODAY UNTIL 700 PM CST TXZ057>060-067-074.

NM...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 700 PM CST NMZ027>029-033-034.

AKL

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Eddy County Plains

When: March 8, 1:00 PM MST
Where: Eddy County Plains forecast zone
Measured: 58 kt (67 mph)
Property damage: $50,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 32.472, -104.304 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

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

Every storm in New Mexico in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings 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: 5286642.