Another dry month for most of Southern New Mexico helped to increase the coverage of Severe(D2) drought into the Sierra Lakes Region which was previously in Moderate(D1) drought.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 dry month for most of Southern New Mexico helped to increase the coverage of Severe(D2) drought into the Sierra Lakes Region which was previously in Moderate(D1) drought.
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 Apr 15, 3:05 AM MST, 9 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX/SANTA TERESA NM
405 AM MDT TUE APR 15 2014
.SYNOPSIS...
DRY WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY FOR THE BORDER AS WE'LL
REMAIN UNDER A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. IT WILL BE A LITTLE WARMER
THIS AFTERNOON. THEN AN UPPER TROUGH EMBEDDED IN THE NORTHWEST FLOW
WILL BRING A WINDY AFTERNOON ON WEDNESDAY WITH SOME BLOWING DUST
NEAR THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER. TEMPERATURES WILL WARM CONSIDERABLE
MOVING BACK ABOVE NORMAL. A WEAK BACKDOOR COLD FRONT WILL ATTEMPT
TO PUSH INTO THE REGION LATER THURSDAY BUT WILL LIKELY ONLY REACH
THE RIO GRANDE THURSDAY NIGHT. HOWEVER...IT WILL ALLOW SURFACE
MOISTURE TO BEGIN OVERSPREADING THE REGION. THEN ON FRIDAY AN UPPER
TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTHERN MEXICO TOWARD US AND BRING A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FOR LATER FRIDAY THROUGH
SATURDAY NIGHT. EASTER SUNDAY LOOKS DRY AT THIS TIME AS AN UPPER
RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE REGION.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
PRIMARY FORECAST CHALLENGES THIS CYCLE ARE 1) STRENGTH OF WINDS
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...2) TIMING/COVERAGE/STRENGTH OF SHOWER ACTIVITY
ASSOCIATED WITH NORTHERN MEXICAN TROUGH FOR FRIDAY.
REGARDING WEDNESDAY'S WINDS - SURFACE SUPPORT APPEARS LESS FAVORABLE
THAN PREVIOUS RUNS WITH ONLY A 4 MB GRADIENT ACROSS SRN NM AT 00Z THU.
AREAS WEST OF THE RIO GRANDE LIKELY TO HAVE THE STRONGER WINDS BUT
SEE THAT AREA AS BEING BORDERLINE FOR ADVISORY CRITERIA AT BEST.
THERE SHOULD BE SOME BLOWING DUST AGAIN MAINLY ALONG THE
INTERNATIONAL BORDER FROM SOUTHEAST LUNA COUNTY EASTWARD TO
SOUTHWEST HUDSPETH COUNTY. VISIBILITIES SHOULD GENERALLY REMAIN
ABOVE 6 MILES BUT MAY BE LOCALLY 1 MILE NEAR PLOWED FIELDS AND
CONSTRUCTION. A BACKDOOR COLD FRONT SHOULD MOVE ABOUT HALF WAY
INTO THE REGION LATE THURSDAY BUT ITS MAIN IMPACT WILL BE TO SWING
WINDS TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ALLOWING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TO
STREAM INTO THE AREA.
GFS AND ECMWF ACTUALLY ARE IN PRETTY FAIR AGREEMENT WITH THE
MOVEMENT OF THE UPPER TROUGH ACROSS NORTHERN MEXICO AND BOTH CARRY
PRECIPITATION LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON OR EVENING EXTENDING INTO
SATURDAY EVENING. SUSPECT COVERAGE WILL BE GENERALLY ISOLATED TO
WIDELY SCATTERED WITH BEST CHANCES EAST FOR SATURDAY. MODELS STILL
SHOWING LITTLE OR NO CAPE AND LIS AROUND 0. SO DESPITE DECENT
VERTICAL SHEAR OF AROUND 40 KT BOTH FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY
NIGHT IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE STORMS WILL BE STRONG. PRECIPITABLE
WATER AMOUNTS INCREASE TO 0.75-1.00 INCH SO SOME BRIEF MODERATE TO
HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE BUT I EXPECT RAINFALL AMOUNT FOR THE PERIOD
TO BE 0.25 INCH OR LESS MOST AREAS.
ECMWF AND GFS SHOW THE TROUGH MOVING EAST OF THE AREA ON SUNDAY.
ECMWF WITH A VERY POSITIVELY TILTED TROUGH SMEAR PRECIP INTO NRN
NM SUNDAY AFTERNOON BUT I'M NOT BUYING PRECIP THIS FAR SOUTH.
AN UPPER RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD INTO THE REGION ON MONDAY BUT GFS
HAS A MOIST E TO SE FLOW AND SHOWS THE RISK OF SHOWERS/STORMS OVER
EASTERN PORTIONS FOR MONDAY NIGHT WHILE ECMWF IS LESS BULLISH.
&&
.AVIATION...VALID 151200Z-161200Z
VFR CONDS THRU THE PD W WNDS MAINLY 140-180 DEG AT 10-15 KT THIS
AFTN BCMG L/V OVNGT. SKC.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FOR ALL AREAS WEDNESDAY 2 PM TO
9 PM MDT...
WINDS WILL BECOME SOUTHERLY TUESDAY WITH TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY
WARMER. THEN MUCH WARMER AND WINDY WEDNESDAY WITH MINIMUM RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES IN THE SINGLE DIGITS. WEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WILL
LIKELY CREATE EXTREME FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS. AN UPPER TROUGH
WILL MOVE ACROSS NORTHERN MEXICO PASSING OUR REGION FRIDAY
AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY NIGHT WITH MAINLY ISOLATED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS.
GOOD VENTILATION THIS AFTERNOON AND EXCELLENT WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON. HAINES INDEX OF 3 TO 5 TODAY AND 5 TO 6 TOMORROW.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
EL PASO 71 53 84 56 81 / 0 0 0 0 0
SIERRA BLANCA 70 43 82 48 80 / 0 0 0 0 0
LAS CRUCES 70 46 80 51 79 / 0 0 0 0 0
ALAMOGORDO 70 44 79 48 78 / 0 0 0 0 0
CLOUDCROFT 49 33 57 35 56 / 0 0 0 0 0
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 70 47 79 51 78 / 0 0 0 0 0
SILVER CITY 67 40 72 44 73 / 0 0 0 0 0
DEMING 72 40 81 43 80 / 0 0 0 0 0
LORDSBURG 73 43 80 46 79 / 0 0 0 0 0
WEST EL PASO METRO 70 52 82 55 80 / 0 0 0 0 0
DELL CITY 70 40 81 44 76 / 0 0 0 0 0
FORT HANCOCK 76 48 88 52 84 / 0 0 0 0 0
LOMA LINDA 66 47 74 47 73 / 0 0 0 0 0
FABENS 73 48 84 52 82 / 0 0 0 0 0
SANTA TERESA 71 48 82 51 79 / 0 0 0 0 0
WHITE SANDS HQ 70 52 80 57 77 / 0 0 0 0 0
JORNADA RANGE 71 38 79 41 78 / 0 0 0 0 0
HATCH 70 41 79 46 78 / 0 0 0 0 0
COLUMBUS 71 51 80 52 79 / 0 0 0 0 0
OROGRANDE 73 44 82 47 80 / 0 0 0 0 0
MAYHILL 58 37 66 40 63 / 0 0 0 0 0
MESCALERO 59 35 68 36 66 / 0 0 0 0 0
TIMBERON 57 33 66 36 64 / 0 0 0 0 0
WINSTON 67 42 72 43 73 / 0 0 0 0 0
HILLSBORO 67 47 75 49 75 / 0 0 0 0 0
SPACEPORT 69 44 77 46 75 / 0 0 0 0 0
LAKE ROBERTS 66 35 70 39 72 / 0 0 0 0 0
HURLEY 68 39 74 44 74 / 0 0 0 0 0
CLIFF 75 37 79 41 79 / 0 0 0 0 0
MULE CREEK 72 29 75 31 76 / 0 0 0 0 0
FAYWOOD 66 41 73 45 73 / 0 0 0 0 0
ANIMAS 76 49 82 49 81 / 0 0 0 0 0
HACHITA 73 45 80 45 79 / 0 0 0 0 0
ANTELOPE WELLS 77 49 82 50 81 / 0 0 0 0 0
CLOVERDALE 75 45 77 45 76 / 0 0 0 0 0
&&
.EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NM...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY
EVENING FOR NMZ110>113.
TX...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY
EVENING FOR TXZ055-056.
&&
02/02The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The entire zone was put into Severe(D2) drought on April 15th. The Cooperative Observer at Hillsboro reported 0.87 inches of precipitation which was 0.55 inches above normal.
The zone was placed into Severe(D2) drought on April 15th. The Cooperative Observer at the Jornada Range reported no precipitation which was 0.22 inches below normal for April.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, April 2014
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: 511388, 511390.