Another very dry month kept the region under Severe(D2) to Extreme(D3) drought conditions through the month of March.
Every event with a place to put it; 14 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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 EPZ wrote it up.
Another very dry month kept the region under Severe(D2) to Extreme(D3) drought conditions through the month of March.
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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 28, 2:54 PM MST, 9 hours 6 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX/SANTA TERESA NM 254 PM MST THU FEB 28 2013 .SYNOPSIS... LOOKS LIKE A DRY AND MILD STRETCH OF WEATHER IN STORE FOR THE BORDERLAND THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK AS UPPER RIDGE WEST OF THE ROCKIES DOMINATES THE PATTERN. SUNNY SKIES WILL REMAIN FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AND TEMPERATURES CLIMB BACK TO NEAR NORMAL. CLOUDS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA SUNDAY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVER THE GILA. ASSOCIATED WEATHER FRONT WILL PRODUCE A WINDY AFTERNOON AND TEMPERATURES WILL WARM BACK ABOVE NORMAL...THE FIRST INSTANCE IN ABOUT TWO WEEKS. SOME MORE CLOUDS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY AS A SURGE OF SUB TROPICAL MOISTURE MOVES OVERHEAD. && .DISCUSSION... DRY AND MILD WEATHER ON TAP OVER THE NEXT WEEK FOR THE CWA AS LARGE UPPER RIDGE WEST OF THE ROCKIES DOMINATES THE WEATHER PATTERN. IN THE SHORT TERM...A DRY TROUGH ALOFT IS PRESENTLY PUSHING SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA WITH VERY FEW CLOUDS. FEATURE WILL ALLOW SOME REINFORCING COOL AIR IN OVERNIGHT. FRIDAY WILL SEE A SLOW WARM UP BEFORE THE WARMUP ACCELERATES OVER THE WEEKEND. AXIS OF THE RIDGE MOVES OVER NEW MEXICO SATURDAY NIGHT AND BEGINS FLATTENING AS PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM CUTS THROUGH THE RIDGE. CLOUDS ON THE INCREASE SUNDAY AND I DECIDED TO PUT A LOW POP IN THE GILA. BAND OF MOISTURE BREAKING UP AS IT ENTERS NEW MEXICO BUT MAY BE ENOUGH OUT OVER THE GILA TO PRODUCE SOME LIGHT RAIN. SURFACE FRONT WILL NEAR THE AREA...RAISING WINDS INTO WINDY CATEGORY AND CONTINUING THE WARMING. IN FACT IF TEMPERATURES CLIMB COMFORTABLY ABOVE NORMAL LIKE WE EXPECT...EL PASO WILL SEE IT'S FIRST ABOVE NORMAL AVERAGE TEMP SINCE FEB 18. MOISTURE RAPIDLY MOVES OUT AS UPPER RIDGE RE ESTABLISHES ITSELF A BIT FURTHER EAST OVER THE GREAT BASIN ON MONDAY. STRONG EASTERN PACIFIC UPPER LOW BEGINS PUSHING THE RIDGE EAST OVER NEW MEXICO BY TUESDAY. GFS STILL STRONG SW FLOW ALOFT BRINGING A WEAK DISTURBANCE INTO EASTERN ARIZONA WEDNESDAY MORNING AND OVER NORTHERN NEW MEXICO IN THE AFTERNOON. BROUGHT MORE CLOUDS BACK IN BUT LEFT POPS OUT WEST IN THE TOKEN CATEGORY FOR NOW. EASTERN PACIFIC UPPER LOW COULD BECOME SIGNIFICANT WEATHER MAKER BY NEXT FRIDAY OR SATURDAY. GFS/ECMWF BOTH SIMILAR ALTHOUGH ECMWF ABOUT 12-18 HOURS SLOWER THAN GFS. && .AVIATION....VALID 01/00Z-02/00Z. VFR THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH P6SM SKC-SCT250 AND WINDS MAINLY NORTH AT 5 TO 10 KTS TONIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY...THEN NORTH AT 10-15 KTS GUSTING TO 20-25 KTS LATE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. && .FIRE WEATHER... DRY WITH PLENTY OF SUNSHINE THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. MINIMUM RH RANGING FROM THE LOW TO MID TEENS IN THE DESERT LOWLANDS TO THE LOW 30S MTNS. VENTILATION FAIR TO POOR OVER THE GILA REGION AND THE SACRAMENTO MTNS TOMORROW BUT FAIR TO GOOD ACROSS THE LOWLANDS. A WEAK FRONT WILL KEEP NORTH WINDS ACROSS THE AREA FRIDAY WITH AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES BELOW NORMAL...BUT WILL HAVE LITTLE OTHER EFFECT ON OUR WEATHER. WARMING UP OVER THE WEEKEND AS WINDS TURN MORE TO THE WEST...TEMPS WILL CLIMB ABOVE NORMAL SUNDAY AFTERNOON. BECOMING WINDY SUNDAY WITH CONTINUED LOW HUMIDITY...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY SUNDAY. WARM AND BREEZY MONDAY...THEN ANOTHER FRONT WILL BRING BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS TUESDAY WITH TEMPS DOWN BY 5 TO 10 DEGREES. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... EL PASO 34 60 35 64 40 / 0 0 0 0 0 SIERRA BLANCA 31 57 29 64 37 / 0 0 0 0 0 LAS CRUCES 27 57 29 62 34 / 0 0 0 0 0 ALAMOGORDO 29 57 31 63 37 / 0 0 0 0 0 CLOUDCROFT 15 39 21 45 24 / 0 0 0 0 0 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 27 55 31 61 36 / 0 0 0 0 0 SILVER CITY 24 56 32 61 35 / 0 0 0 0 0 DEMING 24 59 28 63 31 / 0 0 0 0 0 LORDSBURG 24 62 29 65 35 / 0 0 0 0 0 WEST EL PASO METRO 34 59 34 63 39 / 0 0 0 0 0 DELL CITY 27 59 27 65 32 / 0 0 0 0 0 FORT HANCOCK 30 61 33 66 37 / 0 0 0 0 0 LOMA LINDA 30 54 30 59 35 / 0 0 0 0 0 FABENS 31 60 31 64 36 / 0 0 0 0 0 SANTA TERESA 30 59 30 62 33 / 0 0 0 0 0 WHITE SANDS HQ 31 58 35 63 37 / 0 0 0 0 0 JORNADA RANGE 14 58 19 63 26 / 0 0 0 0 0 HATCH 25 56 28 61 32 / 0 0 0 0 0 COLUMBUS 30 60 31 64 35 / 0 0 0 0 0 OROGRANDE 24 59 29 63 35 / 0 0 0 0 0 MAYHILL 22 46 26 53 29 / 0 0 0 0 0 MESCALERO 19 46 23 54 28 / 0 0 0 0 0 TIMBERON 19 46 23 51 25 / 0 0 0 0 0 WINSTON 24 53 27 58 31 / 0 0 0 0 0 HILLSBORO 25 55 29 60 33 / 0 0 0 0 0 SPACEPORT 26 56 30 62 32 / 0 0 0 0 0 LAKE ROBERTS 20 54 24 60 29 / 0 0 0 0 0 HURLEY 22 58 29 61 31 / 0 0 0 0 0 CLIFF 17 61 17 66 18 / 0 0 0 0 0 MULE CREEK 11 59 15 64 16 / 0 0 0 0 0 FAYWOOD 24 56 28 60 31 / 0 0 0 0 0 ANIMAS 25 59 29 65 33 / 0 0 0 0 0 HACHITA 23 59 26 65 31 / 0 0 0 0 0 ANTELOPE WELLS 21 60 26 68 34 / 0 0 0 0 0 CLOVERDALE 23 56 30 64 34 / 0 0 0 0 0 && .EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NM...NONE. TX...NONE. && HEFNER/PARK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
17 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe(D2) drought continued across the area through the month. The Gila Hot Springs Cooperative Observer reported 0.98 inches of precipitation which was 0.20 inches above normal.
The southwest portion of the zone was in Moderate(D1) drought while the remainder of the area was in Severe(D2) drought.
The far western portions of the area were in Moderate(D1) drought while the remainder of the zone was in Severe(D2) drought. The Cooperative Observer at Faywood reported 0.23 inches of precipitation which was 0.15 inches below normal.
The southeast portion of the zone was in Moderate(D1) drought with the remainder of the area in Severe(D2) drought during the month of March. The Redrock Cooperative Observer reported 0.28 inches of precipitation which was 0.39 inches below normal.
The western portions of the zone remained in Moderate(D1) drought while the eastern half of the zone was in Severe(D2) drought. The Hachita Cooperative Observer recorded 0.13 inches of precipitation which was 0.34 inches below normal.
The western half of the area was in Moderate(D1) drought while the eastern half remained in Severe(D2) drought during the month.
The entire zone remained in Severe(D2) drought through the month. The Deming Airport recorded 0.19 inches of precipitation which was 0.07 inches below normal.
The far northern portions of the zone remained in Extreme(D3) drought while the remainder of the area was in Severe(D2) drought. The Hillsboro Cooperative Observer recorded 0.11 inches which was 0.26 inches below normal.
The northern half of the zone was in Extreme(D3) drought while the remainder of the area was in Severe(D2) drought. The Truth or Consequences Airport recorded 0.06 inches of precipitation which was 0.21 inches below normal.
The entire region remained in Severe(D2) drought during the month of March. The Jornada Range Cooperative Observer reported no precipitation which was 0.29 inches below normal.
Severe(D2) drought continued through the month for the entire zone. The Cooperative Observer at New Mexico State University reported no precipitation which was 0.30 inches below normal.
Extreme(D3) drought continued across far northern portions of the zone while the remainder of the area stayed in Severe(D2) drought. The White Sands National Monument Cooperative Observer reported no precipitation which was 0.28 inches below normal.
The northern half of the zone remained in Severe(D2) drought while the southern areas were in Moderate(D1) drought. The Orogrande Cooperative Observer reported no precipitation which was 0.35 inches below normal.
The far northern portions of the zone remained in Extreme(D3) drought while the remainder of the zone was in Severe(D2) drought. The Mountain Park Cooperative Observer reported 0.56 inches of precipitation which was 0.39 inches below normal.
Extreme(D3) drought continued across the far northern portions of the zone while the remainder of the area remained in Severe(D2) drought. The Cooperative Observer in Cloudcroft reported 1.24 inches of precipitation which was 0.11 inches below normal.
The far northern portion of the zone remained in Extreme(D3) drought while the remainder of the area continued in Severe(D2) drought.
Severe(D2) drought continued across the entire zone during the month of March.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, March 2013
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: 442184, 442185, 442187, 442188, 442189, 442191, 442192, 442194, 442195, 442196, 442197, 442198, 442199, 442200, 442201, 442202, 442203.