On February 21, 2022, a strong Pacific Northwest storm system was deepening over the Washington State and Oregon area. As a result of this, southwest flow aloft strengthened across the desert southwest, including New Mexico, as this system steered a strong jet overhead.
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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.
On February 21, 2022, a strong Pacific Northwest storm system was deepening over the Washington State and Oregon area. As a result of this, southwest flow aloft strengthened across the desert southwest, including New Mexico, as this system steered a strong jet overhead. Additionally, a lee-side surface low deepened over southeastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico, and with deep mixing heights in place across the area, surface winds were windy areawide during the afternoon and early evening hours. Most of these winds ranged from 45 to 55 mph, especially across eastern New Mexico under the influence of the deepening surface low. However, the strongest wind gust recorded was at Gallup where a brief 59 mph non-thunderstorm gust was measured.
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 21, 3:25 PM MST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 325 PM MST Mon Feb 21 2022 .SYNOPSIS... Here we go with the next storm system, which will bring a variety of significant weather hazards to New Mexico. The storm is currently in the Pacific Northwest and will dive south and strengthen tonight through Tuesday night, then turn east Wednesday, crossing New Mexico Wednesday night into Thursday. At the surface a back door cold front will reach the northeast later tonight, slow down or stall Tuesday, then plow south and west Tuesday night into Wednesday with arctic air behind it. Precipitation will be a mix of mountain snow and valley rain through Tuesday, then shift to mostly or all snow Tuesday and Wednesday. 40 && .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...(MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT)... A longwave trough deepening over the Great Basin will steer a series of disturbances over the northwest third of NM tonight through Tuesday night with a few to several inches of snow accumulation. Most of the snow near term will occur tonight and Tuesday, then there will be a lull in snow accumulations Tuesday evening, before snow accumulations gradually begin to ramp back up late Tuesday night as a stronger storm system approaches the state from the west. With this package we will issue a Winter Weather Weather Advisory for the Chuska Mountains, Jemez Mountains, and Far Northwest Highlands valid this evening through Tuesday afternoon. Will also issue a Winter Storm Watch for the Sangre de Cristo Mountains valid Tuesday morning through Wednesday night. A strong but shallow backdoor cold front will sag into the far northeast plains tonight and remain there until Tuesday night when it will advance southwestward to the east slopes of the central mountain chain. Wind-wise, brisk flow aloft will remain over the forecast area tonight and Tuesday. The lowest elevations should decouple tonight with weaker winds after midnight if not sooner. However, areas of elevated terrain will probably see gusts continue tonight. Breezy to windy southwest flow will then spread to most locations again on Tuesday. LONG TERM...(WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY)... Any break in the precipitation Tuesday night will return with a vengeance Wednesday and Wednesday night across western and northern NM, mostly in the form of snow. The back door cold front will have blasted through the east Tuesday night and spilled into the RGV Wednesday, leaving much colder/cooler temperatures behind. One to two feet of snow can easily fall near and east of Chama through Wednesday night. Significant snow amounts are likely across the western and remainder of the northern mountains through Wednesday night. Roads will be treacherous, with snow covered, icy roads and strong wind gusts causing blowing and drifting snow and near white- out conditions. Temperatures will moderate Friday through Sunday with dry conditions, other than a weak short wave could trigger a couple of snow showers on the Sangre peaks near CO Saturday. 40/44 && .FIRE WEATHER... Critical fire weather conditions will continue until 1900L this evening, but winds will remain gusty through tonight except at the lowest elevations. The flow aloft will remain strong with breezy to windy southwest flow developing areawide on Tuesday. A series of disturbances will cross tonight through Tuesday, then a stronger storm system will approach and cross late Tuesday night through Wednesday night with widespread snow accumulation over north central and western areas. The heaviest snow accumulations look to reach 10- 18 inches in the northern and Chuska Mountains, except over 2 feet in the Tusas Mountains. Temperatures will trend much colder tonight through mid week with highs bottoming out Thursday around 10 to 30 degrees below normal. Drier, warmer, and less windy weather are expected Friday through the weekend. 44 && .AVIATION... 18Z TAF CYCLE Southwest winds will strengthen areawide today in response to a lee trough and strengthening flow aloft. Winds will then remain gusty through tonight in many locations. There will also be low level wind shear tonight along the continental divide and along the east slopes of the western mountains, including Cuba and Grants. Another area of LLWS will impact the Caprock and lower Pecos River valley, including Roswell, Clovis, and Portales. Snow showers will develop around Dulce and Chama this afternoon, then snow will become more widespread from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains westward tonight, and persist through Tuesday. Snow accumulation will favor the mountains where mountain obscuration will be persistent while MVFR and IFR conditions impact lower elevations west of the Sangres. 44 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 30 47 31 44 / 60 40 50 80 Dulce........................... 20 41 19 39 / 80 80 60 90 Cuba............................ 26 45 23 39 / 20 20 5 60 Gallup.......................... 25 46 26 38 / 20 20 20 80 El Morro........................ 26 46 26 39 / 10 10 5 60 Grants.......................... 26 50 24 43 / 0 5 0 60 Quemado......................... 25 50 26 41 / 0 5 5 50 Magdalena....................... 29 55 29 50 / 0 0 0 10 Datil........................... 25 49 26 44 / 0 0 0 30 Reserve......................... 22 52 21 44 / 0 5 10 60 Glenwood........................ 28 56 33 49 / 5 5 10 50 Chama........................... 15 35 15 32 / 80 80 60 90 Los Alamos...................... 29 44 23 38 / 20 20 10 50 Pecos........................... 27 46 17 36 / 10 5 0 20 Cerro/Questa.................... 27 38 25 31 / 40 40 40 60 Red River....................... 17 32 13 28 / 70 50 50 60 Angel Fire...................... 11 32 5 28 / 40 40 30 60 Taos............................ 22 41 16 33 / 30 30 20 50 Mora............................ 23 43 10 31 / 10 10 10 30 Espanola........................ 30 51 26 44 / 20 20 10 40 Santa Fe........................ 27 47 23 40 / 20 10 5 40 Santa Fe Airport................ 27 50 21 43 / 10 5 0 30 Albuquerque Foothills........... 33 55 28 49 / 5 0 0 20 Albuquerque Heights............. 31 57 29 51 / 5 0 0 20 Albuquerque Valley.............. 28 60 28 53 / 5 0 0 20 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 30 57 28 50 / 5 0 0 20 Belen........................... 27 61 27 56 / 5 0 0 10 Bernalillo...................... 32 57 28 51 / 5 5 0 20 Bosque Farms.................... 27 60 26 54 / 5 0 0 20 Corrales........................ 31 57 28 51 / 5 5 0 20 Los Lunas....................... 27 60 28 54 / 5 0 0 10 Placitas........................ 33 53 28 47 / 5 5 0 30 Rio Rancho...................... 31 56 28 50 / 5 5 0 20 Socorro......................... 29 63 31 59 / 0 0 0 5 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 30 49 22 46 / 5 0 0 20 Tijeras......................... 30 52 23 47 / 0 0 0 20 Edgewood........................ 27 52 17 47 / 0 0 0 10 Moriarty/Estancia............... 23 54 13 49 / 0 0 0 10 Clines Corners.................. 25 49 11 37 / 0 0 0 5 Mountainair..................... 27 53 23 49 / 0 0 0 5 Gran Quivira.................... 27 54 25 51 / 0 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 32 57 34 56 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 30 50 31 52 / 5 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 22 42 3 26 / 0 5 10 10 Raton........................... 22 45 5 29 / 5 5 20 20 Springer........................ 25 49 6 30 / 0 5 10 20 Las Vegas....................... 29 47 11 30 / 0 0 0 10 Clayton......................... 17 36 2 24 / 0 0 0 0 Roy............................. 28 52 5 29 / 0 0 5 5 Conchas......................... 35 59 9 36 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 34 60 11 40 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 34 62 10 34 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 32 63 12 37 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 32 65 14 38 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 32 63 12 43 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 33 71 30 49 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 36 63 27 58 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 33 60 31 60 / 0 0 0 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 7 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ103-104-107-108. Wind Advisory until 6 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ223-226-229-232>240. Wind Advisory until 7 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ202-205. Winter Storm Warning from 5 PM this afternoon to 5 PM MST Tuesday for the following zones... NMZ210. &&
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
226 PM MST MON FEB 21 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0215 PM HIGH SUST WINDS 2 S FORT STANTON 33.47N 105.52W
02/21/2022 M49 MPH LINCOLN NM AWOS
AWOS STATION KSRR SIERRA BLANCA RGNL ARPT.
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RJHThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
An ASOS station in Gallup measured a peak wind speed of 59 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, February 2022
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: 998761.