An area of high pressure at the surface was located over the front range of the Rockies which pushed a strong back door cold front through the region. East winds gusted to 64 mph along the southwest slopes of the Sacramento Mountains.
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The episode as NWS EPZ wrote it up.
An area of high pressure at the surface was located over the front range of the Rockies which pushed a strong back door cold front through the region. East winds gusted to 64 mph along the southwest slopes of the Sacramento 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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 10, 2:37 AM MST, 53 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service El Paso Tx/Santa Teresa NM 337 AM MDT SAT SEP 10 2016 .SYNOPSIS... A strong backdoor front will push through the area this morning and bring gusty east winds, especially along western slopes. Afternoon temperatures will be down about 12 to 15 degrees east of the Rio Grande from yesterday, with less cooling as you approach the Arizona border. Moisture will begin to increase in the coming days, with thunderstorms returning areawide by early next week. Storms could be severe around midweek. && .DISCUSSION... Active weather can be expected this forecast period. We'll start out with a vigorous (for September at least) backdoor front pushing southwestward across the CWA this morning. A wind advisory is in effect for zones containing western slopes, mainly along and east of Rio Grande. Could get windy along the I-10 corridor west of Las Cruces as well. Max temps will be down from yesterday, ranging from 15 degrees cooler far east to 7 degrees cooler toward the AZ border. A few storms are possible this afternoon where the moisture is deepest, mainly eastern portion of Hudspeth & Otero counties and perhaps the NM bootheel. As a trough deepens along the Pacific coast and high pressure aloft migrates farther east, moisture will move in from the south and southwest Sunday through Thursday. This of course will increase thunderstorm coverage, peaking around Wednesday and Thursday. Those two days need to be watched as 1) dynamics from the approaching Pacific trough increase, 2) another east push settles a surface boundary across the area and provides southeast surface winds, 3) veering wind profile (southeast low level to southwest mid level) brings potential for supercells, and 4) left exit region of 250 mb jet max (encouraging atmospheric lift) noses in from the west. Should this all occur as the 00z GFS indicates, we could have one of our early Fall severe weather scenarios. The 00Z ECM does not indicate this though, so confidence is not high. Toward the weekend the Pacific trough weakens and sort of settles overhead, with the moisture concentrated east of us. Thus most of the storms would be east of the Rio Grande by then, maybe even east of our CWA. && .AVIATION...Valid 10/12Z - 11/12Z. Back door cold front will be moving through the region by 15z which will shift winds to E to NE 15-25G35KTS and bring in a FEW- SCT050-070 mid deck of clouds. Isold 3SM -TSRA BKN040-060 after 18Z E of Rio Grande. && .FIRE WEATHER... A back door front will be moving through the region this morning with gusty east winds over 30 mph possible. Temperatures will be about 10 degrees cooler today with an increase in moisture. Any thunderstorm activity will likely remained confined to the mountains and far eastern areas through Monday. An upper trough will be cutting off over Northern California early next week which will allow for moisture to be tapped from the south with a better chance for showers and thunderstorms areawide starting Monday night and continuing through much of the week. Temperatures will return to near normal Sunday and remain within a few degrees of that through remainder of period. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... El Paso 80 63 86 68 / 0 0 0 10 Sierra Blanca 74 60 83 64 / 20 10 10 20 Las Cruces 79 61 85 63 / 0 0 0 20 Alamogordo 74 58 85 63 / 0 0 0 10 Cloudcroft 58 47 66 49 / 20 10 20 20 Truth or Consequences 78 60 84 62 / 0 0 10 20 Silver City 76 55 78 57 / 10 10 20 20 Deming 83 61 85 63 / 0 0 0 20 Lordsburg 84 61 85 63 / 0 10 10 20 West El Paso Metro 80 63 86 68 / 0 0 0 10 Dell City 74 60 84 64 / 20 10 20 10 Fort Hancock 80 65 86 68 / 20 10 10 10 Loma Linda 70 59 80 63 / 10 0 0 10 Fabens 80 63 86 66 / 0 0 0 10 Santa Teresa 80 63 86 66 / 0 0 0 20 White Sands HQ 78 61 84 64 / 0 0 0 20 Jornada Range 80 58 84 61 / 0 0 0 20 Hatch 80 61 84 63 / 0 0 0 20 Columbus 82 62 87 64 / 0 0 0 20 Orogrande 75 59 85 65 / 0 0 0 10 Mayhill 61 49 72 53 / 20 10 20 20 Mescalero 66 50 75 54 / 10 10 20 10 Timberon 64 48 72 51 / 20 10 20 20 Winston 74 50 77 52 / 0 0 20 30 Hillsboro 77 56 81 58 / 0 0 20 20 Spaceport 78 59 82 61 / 0 0 0 20 Lake Roberts 77 49 78 52 / 10 10 20 20 Hurley 78 55 80 56 / 0 0 20 20 Cliff 79 53 84 58 / 10 10 20 20 Mule Creek 77 50 81 53 / 10 10 10 20 Faywood 78 55 82 57 / 0 0 20 20 Animas 84 59 86 60 / 0 10 20 20 Hachita 83 58 85 60 / 0 10 0 20 Antelope Wells 82 60 84 60 / 0 10 20 30 Cloverdale 81 59 80 59 / 0 10 30 30 && .EPZ Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NM...Wind Advisory until 1 PM MDT this afternoon for NMZ417. TX...Wind Advisory until 1 PM MDT this afternoon for TXZ418-420-421. && 01 Fausett
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A peak gust of 61 mph was reported 1 mile southwest of High Rolls.
A RAWS site 28 miles east-northeast of Orogrande reported a peak gust of 64 mph at 537 AM.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, September 2016
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: 659963, 659962.