A strong cold front that raced southeast across New Mexico during the predawn hours forced strong winds in its wake. The strongest winds occurred from near Clines Corners southward toward Capitan where sustained winds over 40 mph and gusts near 60 mph were reported.
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 ABQ wrote it up.
A strong cold front that raced southeast across New Mexico during the predawn hours forced strong winds in its wake. The strongest winds occurred from near Clines Corners southward toward Capitan where sustained winds over 40 mph and gusts near 60 mph were reported. The remainder of the region saw winds gusting between 40 and 50 mph. Temperatures were 10 to 20 degrees below normal over the entire area with low humidity behind the front.
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 Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 24, 6:16 AM MST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 616 AM MST Sat Feb 24 2018 .UPDATE... Allowed freezing fog advisory for Union County to expire as visibility at Clayton has improved. However, satellite imagery suggests as well as latest HRRR, areas of fog will persist until around 8-9 am before diminishing. No other changes made. Updated ZFP just transmitted. && .PREV DISCUSSION...417 AM MST Sat Feb 24 2018... .AVIATION... 12Z TAF CYCLE Occasional mt obscurations in mainly MVFR cigs/vsbys in -shsn along and west of the central mt chain before 18Z with improving conditions thereafter. Areas MVFR to IFR cigs/vsbys in fzfg and br over far ne NM til around 14Z when sw-wly winds expected to push the low level moisture out of NM. W-nw winds to strengthen along and east of the central mt chain with gusts around 40-50kts, and diminishing aft 22Z. && .PREV DISCUSSION...313 AM MST Sat Feb 24 2018... .SYNOPSIS... As the freezing fog diminishes across northeast New Mexico this morning, the snow will taper off elsewhere. Critical fire weather conditions will return to the plains as wind increase and low humidities persist. Meanwhile, all areas will see much cooler temperatures today thanks to a Pacific cold front. Another trough will slide over northern New Mexico on Sunday, which may bring some light snow to the northern New Mexico mountains. Warmer temperatures are in store for Monday and Tuesday, though winds will pick up again by Tuesday. More precipitation could be on the way for Wednesday. && .DISCUSSION... Moist, southeasterly low level flow across Union County resulted in freezing fog early this morning with some minimal ice accretion likely. Surface winds are waffling now, and visibilities are slowing improving. Strong westerly winds will develop shortly after sunrise, which will quickly mix out the remaining low clouds and fog. Speaking of wind, 700mb winds of 50 to 60kts should be peaking over the south central mountains around the time of this writing, though they will remain quite strong for the remainder of the day. Will keep High Wind Warnings in place, and add a few zones into the Wind Advisory. Blowing dust will be possible across portions of the plains. The surface gradient will be quite strong behind a Pacific cold front that is charging from west to east this morning. The front has already advanced to approximately KAXX southward to KCQC. Temperatures will be several degrees colder than yesterday, but across the plains, temperatures will be tricky as cold air advection battles with compressional warming. A band of snow also developed this morning along the Pacific front, likely dropping an inch or two across northern and western NM. Snow is already waning this morning, and will continue to do so. Thus, the WSW will likely expire on time. Another weak trough will shift across northern NM early Sunday. The high peaks of the northern mountains could get an inch or two of snow, but more wind will be in store for the remainder of the area, especially the east. Warmer temperatures will return for Monday as the upper level flow becomes southwesterly. On Tuesday, all eyes will be on a closed low scooting southeastward along the Cali coast. Ahead of the low, southwesterly winds will increase over NM, keeping temperatures near or above normal for Tuesday. Tuesday night and into Wednesday, models diverge on the progression of the upper low. The GFS weakens the low into a trough and quickly slides the trough eastward across NM on Wednesday. In this scenario, most of the precip would be across western and northern NM and all areas would see strong winds. However, the latest ECMWF keeps the low closed as it shifts eastward over the southern NM border. This scenario would keep much of the precip chances south of I-40 and bring less wind to all areas. This is a large deviation from previous ECMWF runs, so not quite ready to bite on it yet. Much of Thursday and Friday should be quiet, then models are suggesting another system will slide eastward north of NM, perhaps bringing the Land of Enchantment more wind. 34 && .FIRE WEATHER... ...STRONG WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY ACROSS MUCH OF THE EASTERN PLAINS TODAY...AS WELL AS EARLY NEXT WEEK... An upper disturbance swinging over northern and central New Mexico today will allow for strong winds over portions of the central and east. Minimum humidities less than 15 percent will dominate the Northeast and East Central Plains as well as portions of the Northeast Highlands. Forecast Haines over mainly the East Central Plains has increased to moderate to high for this afternoon, despite below average high temperatures. LIS imagery indicates continued very dry surface to near surface conditions. The East Central Plains is most focused area for the wind, low humidities and dryness, as well as the higher Haines, so went ahead with a red flag warning for late this morning through this afternoon. Tonight and Sunday morning will see more snow showers over the northern mountains thanks to another fast moving disturbance. Continued windy conditions will be focused along and south of Interstate 40 on Sunday. Highs Sunday will be about 5 to 15 degrees below average. Dry and warmer Monday and Tuesday with breezy to windy conditions. The stronger winds look to be on Tuesday, but minimum humidities both days will range from about 7 to 12 percent over the Northeast and East Central Plains. Above average high temperatures will be combined with moderate to high Haines each day so that critical fire weather conditions appear to be most likely over the Northeast Plains on Monday and from the Central Highlands across the Northeast Plains on Tuesday. Another disturbance could bring additional precipitation to parts of New Mexico around the middle of next week along with about 5 to 10 degrees of cooling. However, forecast models disagree whether the north or locales south of Interstate 40 will be favored for precipitation. Vent rates will be good to excellent for the majority of the region today through next Wednesday before decreasing somewhat next Thursday in the wake of the mid week disturbance. && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 6 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ108. Wind Advisory until 4 PM MST this afternoon for the following zones... NMZ529-532>540. High Wind Warning until 4 PM MST this afternoon for the following zones... NMZ523-526. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 335 AM MST Sat Feb 24 2018 NMZ501>540-251045- Northwest Plateau-Chuska Mountains-Far Northwest Highlands- Northwest Highlands-West Central Plateau-West Central Mountains- West Central Highlands-Southwest Mountains- San Francisco River Valley-San Juan Mountains-Jemez Mountains- West Slopes Sangre de Cristo Mountains- Northern Sangre de Cristos above 9500 feet/Red River- Southern Sangre de Cristos above 9500 feet- East Slopes Sangre de Cristo Mountains-Upper Rio Grande Valley- Lower Chama River Valley-Santa Fe Metro Area- Middle Rio Grande Valley/Albuquerque Metro Area- Lower Rio Grande Valley-Sandia/Manzano Mountains-Estancia Valley- Central Highlands-South Central Highlands-Upper Tularosa Valley- South Central Mountains-Raton Ridge/Johnson Mesa- Far Northeast Highlands-Northeast Highlands-Union County- Harding County-Eastern San Miguel County-Guadalupe County- Quay County-Curry County-Roosevelt County-De Baca County- Chaves County Plains-Eastern Lincoln County-Southwest Chaves County- 335 AM MST Sat Feb 24 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of north and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Strong to damaging winds will impact areas from Clines Corners southward to Ruidoso and eastward to the Texas border. Gusts near 50 to 60 mph will be possible. Due to daytime humidities dropping below 15 percent, critical fire weather conditions are also expected for the east central plains, despite below normal temperatures. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday A quick moving storm system will move across northern New Mexico late Saturday night through Sunday morning with light snow accumulations expected in the northern mountains. Another storm system on Tuesday night and Wednesday may bring additional snow accumulations to portions of New Mexico. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report any overnight snow amounts or strong winds through the National Weather Service Albuquerque web site at weather.gov/abq or by calling 1.888.386.7637. You can also submit storm reports and photos on our Facebook page or via Twitter using the hashtag nmwx. 34
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
811 AM MST SAT FEB 24 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0730 AM SNOW 11 NNW CANON PLAZA 36.70N 106.25W
02/24/2018 E1.0 INCH RIO ARRIBA NM OTHER FEDERAL
HOPEWELL SNOTEL.
&&
EVENT NUMBER ABQ201800280
CAPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
820 AM MST SAT FEB 24 2018
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM SNOW 7 ESE CHUPADERO 35.79N 105.80W
02/24/2018 E1.0 INCH SANTA FE NM PUBLIC
SKI SANTA FE.
0800 AM SNOW 8 SSW RED RIVER 36.59N 105.45W
02/24/2018 E1.0 INCH TAOS NM PUBLIC
TAOS SKI AREA.
&&
EVENT NUMBER ABQ201800281
EVENT NUMBER ABQ201800282
RJH4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The weather station at the Upper Hondo Soil and Water Conservation District reported sustained winds periodically between 40 and 45 mph.
The weather station at the Upper Hondo Soil and Water Conservation District reported a peak wind gust up to 60 mph.
Clines Corners reported sustained winds of 40 mph.
Clines Corners reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 62 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, February 2018
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: 731564, 731565, 731566, 731567.