New Mexico, 2022

High Wind in New Mexico, January 14, 2022

January 14, 2022 · NWS ABQ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

As a storm system raced southeastward from the Pacific Northwest through the central Rockies on January 14, 2022, it sent a strong backdoor cold front through the eastern plains of New Mexico. With a strong pressure gradient along this boundary combined with strong upper-level winds, surface winds increased along this front as it tracked south and west through New Mexico.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.

As a storm system raced southeastward from the Pacific Northwest through the central Rockies on January 14, 2022, it sent a strong backdoor cold front through the eastern plains of New Mexico. With a strong pressure gradient along this boundary combined with strong upper-level winds, surface winds increased along this front as it tracked south and west through New Mexico. Wind gusts across eastern New Mexico were generally about 45 to 55 mph with the strongest winds felt across the northeast corner of the state where a 60 mph wind gust was measured in Clayton.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jan 14, 10:46 AM MST, 2 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 14, 10:46 AM MST, 2 hours 24 minutes before
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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Union County

When
January 14, 1:10 PM MST to 8:50 PM MST
Where
Union County forecast zone
Measured
52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by
ASOS
Coordinates
36.482, -103.471 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

An ASOS station in Clayton measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph.

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Mexico in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, January 2022

Sources

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 992520.