Another widespread high wind event produced damage across parts of New Mexico on April 10, 2019 less than one month after a similar wind event in mid March. A powerful jet stream approached New Mexico from the west on April 9, 2019 and forced a potent low pressure system to develop along the Front Range on April 10, 2019.
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.
Another widespread high wind event produced damage across parts of New Mexico on April 10, 2019 less than one month after a similar wind event in mid March. A powerful jet stream approached New Mexico from the west on April 9, 2019 and forced a potent low pressure system to develop along the Front Range on April 10, 2019. Breezy southwest winds and strong downslope flow on the 9th resulted in several record high temperatures across the region, including 97 degrees at Roswell. Southwest winds increased quickly over the entire area in the early morning before turning west as a powerful cold front raced through New Mexico. Widespread strong winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of 60 to 75 mph impacted central and eastern New Mexico. Peak wind gusts with this event topped out at 75 mph at Clines Corners, Clovis, and Fort Stanton. Damage was reported in Roswell and Tucumcari where roofs were torn from buildings and trees were toppled. A semi trailer was blown over on Interstate 40 west of Clines Corners. Blowing dust reduced visibility to near zero across parts of Chaves County where several roads were closed. The 267 Fire near Floyd grew rapidly northeastward with winds well in excess of 50 mph. Four homes were destroyed, one fire fighter and one civilian were injured in the blaze. Meanwhile, cold air filtered into northern New Mexico with even a couple of snow in the high terrain.
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 Apr 10, 1:47 AM MST, 1 hour 43 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 247 AM MDT Wed Apr 10 2019 .SYNOPSIS... A low pressure area in southern Utah this morning will move eastward across Colorado today. This system will bring light rain and elevation snow to portions of western and northern New Mexico today. The main effect of this storm will be very strong to damaging winds across much of New Mexico. The strongest winds this afternoon and evening will be east of the central mountains, where wind gusts will be 45 to 70 mph. As the storm moves northeast of New Mexico tonight, light snow and areas of blowing snow will continue across the northern tier of the state. Thursday will be chilly with high temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below normal and light rain and elevation snow across north central and northeast New Mexico. Another storm will affect New Mexico Friday and Saturday with continued below normal temperatures and light rain and elevation snow. Drier and milder weather are expected Sunday and Monday with daytime temperatures returning to near normal on Sunday and above normal on Monday. && .DISCUSSION... An upper low will track rapidly eastward across Colorado today. The heavier precipitation associated with this storm system will fall across Colorado, but light to occasionally moderate rain and elevation snow will fall across west central, northwest and north central New Mexico today. Snow levels will start out above 8,000 feet across these areas this morning and will fall below 6,500 feet by early this evening. The Chuska mountains and the northwest mountains will receive 2 to 3 inches of new snow today, while the Sangre de Cristos will pick up 1 to 2 inches. The main effect of the storm system to the north will be to produce very strong to damaging winds across northern and central New Mexico this morning through this evening. Very strong winds aloft and a rapidly deepening surface low across far eastern Colorado and western Kansas will create an ideal scenario for high winds across New Mexico. West to northwest winds across northern and central New Mexico will gust between 40 and 55 mph west of the central mountains and between 50 and 70 mph to the east. As the upper low moves over the high plains of Nebraska and Kansas tonight, a surface backdoor cold front will push southward across the northeast plains. Northeast winds behind the front will continue to gust to 45 mph across Union county from midnight tonight through around sunrise on Thursday. Areas of blowing snow are likely across portions of north central and northeast New Mexico tonight. Northwest flow on Thursday will maintain weak cold air advection over the region, and high temperatures will be 10 to 20 degrees below normal. Weak upper level disturbances in the northwest flow aloft will produce light rain and elevation snow showers across portions of north central and northeast New Mexico Thursday and snow showers Thursday night. An upper level trough will drop southward from the Great Basin to Arizona on Friday and then progress eastward across southern New Mexico on Friday. The 00Z runs of the GFS and ECMWF show this system tracking farther south than previous runs. The upper level system also appears to be weaker. This upper level trough will keep colder temperatures aloft over New Mexico Friday and Saturday, and high temperatures both days will continue to be well below normal. Light rain and elevation snow will move across western and central New Mexico Friday and spread across the entire region Friday night and Saturday. Given the weaker system and the track farther south, the precipitation from this system will be mainly light. A backdoor cold front will cross the eastern plains before sunrise on Saturday and reach the central mountains by late Saturday afternoon. The front will provide additional lift and enhance precipitation for several hours across areas east of the central mountains on Saturday. A weak upper level ridge will cross New Mexico on Sunday and then pass to the east of the state on Monday. Drier and milder air from the west will allow temperatures to rise to near normal on Sunday, and then southwest flow aloft will help temperatures recover to above normal on Monday. 28 && .FIRE WEATHER... ...WIDESPREAD CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS BELOW SNOWPACK TODAY AND INTO MID EVENING FROM THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY TO THE NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL PLAINS... ...DAMAGING WINDS ESPECIALLY EAST AND CENTRAL TODAY AND INTO THE LATE EVENING... Overnight humidity recoveries have been only fair to poor through the Middle Rio Grande Valley and much of the east, preceeding the return of critical fire weather conditions from the Middle Rio Grande Valley to the Northeast and East Central Plains today into mid evening. Forecast models in the last 24 hours have trended toward the incoming storm system bombing with a more intense surface low setting up to the northeast of New Mexico later today/tonight. The associated cold front will track from west to east over New Mexico today, with winds shifting from southwest to west and northwest. Sustained speeds of 35 to 55 mph with gusts of 55 to 75 mph are anticipated, with the higher end speeds most likely over portions of the central and east. Moderate to locally high Haines will be combined with near normal temperatures in the Northeast and East Central Plains and the high winds for potentially extreme critical fire weather conditions. Winds may not start to taper off in the central and east until after midnight tonight, with breezy to windy and cooler than normal conditions Thursday. Otherwise, wetting showers, high terrain snow showers and isolated thunderstorms will be focused over the northern third of the state today and this evening. Scattered rain and snow showers expected north central Thursday. Another system will bring chances for rain and snow Friday into Saturday. Temperatures remain below normal through the weekend. The next system Tuesday/Wednesday of next week looks wetter and cooler than normal. && .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE Southwest winds intensifying as an upper low tracks into the Four Corners region and over southern CO/northern NM and a surface low rapidly deepens over sern CO/wrn KS next 18 hrs. Gusty sw winds to around 35kt before 12Z then increasing with gusts to 45-55kt or higher developing. Winds becoming west to northwest aft 18Z in association with a cold front moving from west to east over NM. Terrain obscurations developing in areas of reduced vsbys in bldu mainly east and south with sct rain, high terrain snow showers and isold thunderstorms northwest and north central. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 52 31 53 29 / 40 10 0 0 Dulce........................... 48 26 49 23 / 60 30 0 0 Cuba............................ 50 28 47 27 / 50 30 0 0 Gallup.......................... 49 26 51 25 / 40 10 5 5 El Morro........................ 47 25 48 24 / 30 10 10 10 Grants.......................... 50 26 50 24 / 20 5 5 5 Quemado......................... 51 28 50 29 / 20 10 5 5 Glenwood........................ 60 34 61 37 / 5 0 10 5 Chama........................... 46 22 45 19 / 60 40 20 10 Los Alamos...................... 53 33 47 30 / 30 20 0 0 Pecos........................... 52 28 46 26 / 20 20 5 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 49 24 41 22 / 40 60 30 30 Red River....................... 39 20 31 16 / 60 70 40 30 Angel Fire...................... 45 19 38 15 / 40 50 30 30 Taos............................ 52 23 46 19 / 30 40 20 20 Mora............................ 53 25 46 23 / 30 30 20 10 Espanola........................ 58 32 53 30 / 20 10 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 51 32 47 30 / 20 20 5 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 55 30 50 27 / 20 10 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 58 35 55 34 / 10 5 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 58 36 55 35 / 10 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 60 33 58 30 / 10 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 59 34 56 31 / 10 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 60 28 57 24 / 10 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 58 37 56 35 / 10 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 65 39 62 38 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 52 31 46 30 / 20 10 0 0 Tijeras......................... 56 30 51 29 / 10 5 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 59 27 53 25 / 10 5 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 56 27 49 25 / 10 5 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 60 33 54 32 / 5 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 66 36 58 36 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 60 30 52 30 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 62 16 42 17 / 30 50 20 20 Raton........................... 63 21 47 22 / 20 40 20 20 Springer........................ 62 26 49 25 / 20 30 20 20 Las Vegas....................... 56 26 48 22 / 10 10 10 10 Clayton......................... 69 25 48 25 / 10 30 10 10 Roy............................. 63 27 48 26 / 10 10 10 10 Conchas......................... 72 34 59 31 / 5 5 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 70 35 59 30 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 77 32 60 30 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 76 35 59 32 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 79 36 62 32 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 74 37 62 32 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 83 42 70 38 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 71 40 61 35 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 67 35 56 33 / 0 0 0 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning until midnight MDT tonight for the following zones... NMZ508-520-524>526-539-540. Red Flag Warning from 9 AM this morning to 9 PM MDT this evening for the following zones... NMZ104-106>108. High Wind Warning from 9 AM this morning to midnight MDT tonight for the following zones... NMZ507-514-515-518-519-521>523-527>529-532>538. High Wind Warning from 9 AM this morning to 6 AM MDT Thursday for the following zones... NMZ530-531. Wind Advisory from 9 AM this morning to midnight MDT tonight for the following zones... NMZ501>506-509>513-516-517. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 305 AM MDT Wed Apr 10 2019 NMZ501>540-111100- 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- 305 AM MDT Wed Apr 10 2019 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of north and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Very strong to damaging winds will develop today across all of northern and central New Mexico. Wind gusts to the west of the central mountains will range between 40 and 55 mph, while to the east gusts will range from 50 to 70 mph. Travel along north-south oriented roads including I-25 and U.S. 285 could become difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Areas of blowing dust will limit visibility across much of southern and eastern New Mexico today through early this evening. In addition, snow showers today and tonight in the higher elevations of the west central and northern mountains will produce 2 to 5 inches of snow with reduced visibility in areas of blowing snow likely. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday A Pacific low pressure system will move from Arizona on Friday to New Mexico on Saturday. Though precipitation is expected to be generally light, the northern and west central mountains could pick up 3 to 6 inches of snow Friday into Saturday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated. 28
31 high wind, 1 winter storm, 1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Various sources across the Ruidoso area reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 50 mph.
Taos Ski Valley reported 9 to 11 inches of new snow with wind gusts between 60 and 70 mph for nearly 12 hours. A peak wind gust of 78 mph was reported at 12 pm MDT.
Various sources across the Ruidoso area reported peak wind gusts between 60 and 70 mph. A peak wind gust up to 75 mph was recorded at the Sierra Blanca airport. Significant blowing dust impacted the area from White Sands.
The Dunken RAWS reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 72 mph for several hours.
The Dunken RAWS reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 46 mph for several hours.
Clines Corners reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 52 mph for several hours.
The NMDOT mesonet site at I-40 and NM-6 reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 49 mph for several hours.
The Tucumcari airport reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 52 mph for several hours.
Clines Corners reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 75 mph for several hours. A semi-trailer was blown over on Interstate 40 just west of Clines Corners. Damages are estimated.
Various sources across the Carrizozo area reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 62 mph for several hours.
The Santa Rosa airport reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 45 mph for several hours.
Various sources across the Albuquerque metro area reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 48 mph, including Double Eagle Airport and the Albuquerque Sunport.
Peak wind gusts across the Jemez Mountains to Los Alamos ranged from 58 mph to 63 mph.
Various sources in the Roswell area reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 50 mph.
A weather station near Tajique reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 50 mph for several hours.
A peak wind gust of 61 mph was reported around Las Campanas area of Santa Fe.
Various sources across the Albuquerque metro area reported peak wind gusts around 60 mph, including Double Eagle Airport and the Albuquerque Sunport. Localized power outages were reported across the city due to the winds. Areas of blowing dust also reduced visibility below three mile at times.
Various sources across the area from Stanley to Moriarty reported peak wind gusts around 60 mph.
Various White Sands Missile Range sites reported peak wind gusts between 60 mph and 70 mph. Significant blowing dust impacted the area.
Peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 69 mph were reported at the Tucumcari airport. A large section of metal roof was torn off a carport at a lumber store in Tucumcari. Damages are a very rough estimate.
The Las Vegas airport reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 47 mph for several hours.
A weather station at Conchas Lake reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 50 mph for several hours.
Various sources across Curry County reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 53 mph.
Various sources across Curry County reported peak wind gusts between 65 mph and 75 mph. The strongest wind gust of 77 mph was reported at Ned Houk Park. Significant blowing dust reduced visibility below two miles at times.
The TTU mesonet site at Dora reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 67 mph for several hours. Significant blowing dust reduced visibility below one mile at times across the area.
The TTU mesonet site at Dora reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 53 mph for several hours.
A wildfire developed near Floyd, NM shortly before 1 pm MDT then spread rapidly northeast across rural countryside. Four homes were destroyed in the fire. One firefighter and one civilian were injured in the blaze. The extent of injuries was unknown. Several areas northeast of the fire were quickly evacuated. Damage estimates are for four ranch properties.
The Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility reported peak wind gusts up to 67 mph.
The Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility reported sustained winds between 40 mph and 46 mph.
Various sources in the Roswell area reported peak wind gusts around 60 mph. A section of roof was torn off a vacant building in the center of Roswell. Damage amounts are a rough estimate. Significant blowing dust was reported in the Roswell area with visibility below one half mile at times. Roads were closed around Roswell due to dangerous travel conditions.
A weather station near Sedan reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 63 mph for several hours.
Various sources in the lower Rio Grande Valley reported peak wind gusts between 58 mph and 67 mph as a cold front blasted through the area.
The NMDOT mesonet site at I-40 and NM-6 reported a peak wind gust up to 65 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, April 2019
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: 806556, 806504, 806555, 806572, 806573, 806552, 806507, 806562, 806551, 806554, 806560, 806547, 806509, 806571, 806549, 806510, 806546, 806550, 806553, 806561, 806557, 806559, 806564, 806563, 806565, 806566, 806567, 806568, 806569, 806570, 806558, 806548, 806508.