A passing upper level shortwave trough resulted in strong winds in the Guadalupe and Davis Mountains.
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 MAF wrote it up.
A passing upper level shortwave trough resulted in strong winds in the Guadalupe and Davis Mountains.
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 Jan 21, 2:18 AM MST, 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 318 AM CST THU JAN 21 2010 .DISCUSSION... WV IMAGERY SHOWS ZONAL FLOW ALOFT IN THE WAKE OF YESTERDAY/S TROUGH...W/NEXT PAC TROUGH APPROACHING THE UPPER CA COAST. AS THIS FEATURE MOVES ONSHORE...SW FLOW ALOFT WILL ONCE AGAIN DEVELOP...FOR ANOTHER WINDY FEW DAYS BEGINNING FRIDAY AFTERNOON. BY 18Z FRIDAY...AS PAC TROUGH ENTERS THE NRN ROCKIES...A LEESIDE SFC TROUGH WILL DEVELOP/STRENGTHEN IN ERN CO...WHILE AN H7 70KT JET WILL BEGIN NOSING INTO THE WESTERN MTNS. NAM CROSS-SECTIONS FOR THE GUADALUPES SHOW MTN WAVE SIGNATURES INCREASING THROUGHOUT THE DAY...AND ALL OF THIS WILL COMBINE FOR WIND WARNING/ADVISORY CRITERIA...AT LEAST IN THE MOUNTAINS. OF COURSE...AS HAS BEEN THE CASE FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS...CLOUD COVER MAY INHIBIT MIXING IN SOME PLACES...SO WE/LL CONFINE THE WARNING/ADVISORIES TO THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...I.E. MTNS...FOR THE TIME BEING. CONSIDERING THE TRACK OF THE TROUGH...AND SIMILARITIES AMONG THE MODELS ON TIMING...IF THE WARNINGS/ADVISORIES PAN OUT FRIDAY AFTERNOON...WINDY CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THRU SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT LEAST. THUS...WE/LL CARRY THE WARNINGS INTO SATURDAY. OTHERWISE...EXPECT TEMPS TO INCREASE THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...TO WELL-ABOVE NORMAL FRIDAY IN BREEZY SW-W DOWNSLOPE FLOW. AS TROUGH PASSES TO THE NORTH FRIDAY THRU SATURDAY...A FEW SHRA WILL BE POSSIBLE IN THE NW...W/TEMPS DROPPING CLOSER TO NORMAL SATURDAY AS COOLER AIR MOVES IN BEHIND THE TROUGH. NW FLOW ALOFT FOLLOWS...W/SLIGHT RIDGING BY MIDWEEK...AND THE SW FLOW ALOFT AND INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK AS A PC NW TROUGH DIGS TOWARD THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BIG SPRING TX 71 43 77 44 / 0 0 0 10 CARLSBAD NM 68 37 72 41 / 0 0 30 10 DRYDEN TX 74 41 77 44 / 0 0 0 20 FORT STOCKTON TX 76 49 78 44 / 0 0 10 30 GUADALUPE PASS TX 62 36 62 33 / 0 0 40 30 HOBBS NM 67 33 69 35 / 0 0 10 10 MARFA TX 64 31 68 37 / 0 0 10 30 MIDLAND INTL AIRPORT TX 70 38 78 40 / 0 0 0 10 ODESSA TX 70 41 77 41 / 0 0 10 10 WINK TX 72 34 77 38 / 0 0 10 40 && .MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NM...NONE. TX...NONE. && 72/44
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 228 PM CST WED JAN 20 2010 NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-212030- GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF EDDY COUNTY-EDDY COUNTY PLAINS- NORTHERN LEA COUNTY-CENTRAL LEA COUNTY-SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY-GAINES- DAWSON-BORDEN-SCURRY-ANDREWS-MARTIN-HOWARD-MITCHELL- VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR-REEVES COUNTY AND UPPER TRANS PECOS- LOVING-WINKLER-ECTOR-MIDLAND-GLASSCOCK-WARD-CRANE-UPTON-REAGAN- DAVIS/APACHE MOUNTAINS AREA-PECOS-PRESIDIO VALLEY-MARFA PLATEAU- BIG BEND AREA-TERRELL-GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS- 228 PM CST WED JAN 20 2010 /128 PM MST WED JAN 20 2010/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND WEST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY TO WESTERLY WINDS OF 35 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 65 MPH HAVE DEVELOPED IN THE GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING. STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY TO WESTERLY WINDS OF 35 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 60 MPH HAVE DEVELOPED IN THE IN THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS AND EDDY COUNTY OF NEW MEXICO THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EVENING. A HIGH WIND WARNING IS IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE GUADALUPE...DAVIS...AND APACHE MOUNTAINS...AS WELL AS EDDY COUNTY OF NEW MEXICO. SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 30 TO 35 MPH...WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 50 MPH...CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO PLAINS...VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR...THE UPPER TRANS PECOS...MARFA PLATEAU...AND NORTHWESTERN PERMIAN BASIN. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THESE AREAS THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE POTENTIAL EXIST FOR ANOTHER HIGH WIND EVENT FRIDAY AND SATURDAY IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE POTENTIAL ALSO EXISTS FOR ADVISORY LEVEL WINDS ACROSS THE ADJACENT PLAINS ON THESE DAYS AS WELL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WATCHES...WARNINGS...ADVISORIES... AND STATEMENTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MIDLAND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT /LOWER CASE/ HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/MIDLAND
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The stronger winds were more isolated on 1/22/10 and 1/23/10. A peak wind gust of 64 MPH occurred twice, the first at 0800 1/21/10 and the second at 1200 LST on 1/22/10.
Strong westerly winds raked the lower elevations of the Guadalupe Mountains from 0551 LST on 1/21/10 to 1651 LST on 1/24/10 mainly in the morning and afternoon. The stronger gusts of 92 MPH at 1128 LST and 90 MPH at 1051 LST on 1/22/10 were likely exacerbated by evaporational cooling of the column of air due to a dry subcloud layer and virga showers that occurred. Sustained westerly winds of 56, 72, 55, and 60 MPH occurred at 0951, 1051, 1128 and 1151 LST respectively.
Strong west winds occurred at Mount Locke Observatory. Sustained winds of 40 to 45 MPH were accompanied by frequent gusts over 60 MPH and two gusts over 70 MPH on the afternoon of 1/22/10.
An 81 MPH gust occurred at 0345 LST 1/24/10 at McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains. An extended high wind event occurred in the Davis Mountains with sustained winds above 40 MPH, and as high as 53 MPH, for an 18 hour period. In addition, gusts exceeded 70 MPH frequently during this time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, January 2010
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: 209625, 209626, 209629, 209630.