With a storm system over Arizona, upper-level winds strengthened in response across New Mexico on March 6, 2022. With deep mixing heights across the area as well, these stronger winds aloft easily mixed down to the surface which resulted in widespread breezy to windy conditions.
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.
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.
With a storm system over Arizona, upper-level winds strengthened in response across New Mexico on March 6, 2022. With deep mixing heights across the area as well, these stronger winds aloft easily mixed down to the surface which resulted in widespread breezy to windy conditions. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph were common across much of eastern and central New Mexico. However, wind gusts in excess of 60 mph were measured at Clines Corners, making it the highest wind gusts observed on this 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 Mar 6, 10:38 AM MST, 50 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1038 AM MST Sun Mar 6 2022 .AVIATION... 18Z TAF CYCLE A mixed-bag of VFR and MVFR conditions prevail across northern NM with iso/sct snow showers and areas of mountain obscurations. Improvement is forecast this afternoon at all TAF sites, but westerly winds will be on the uptrend and will get gusty with areas of blowing dust likely developing by mid/late afternoon. MVFR cigs will likely return to KLVS late tonight and may also impact KSAF and KTCC early Monday morning. 11 && .PREV DISCUSSION...422 AM MST Sun Mar 6 2022... .AVIATION... 12Z TAF CYCLE A mix of IFR/MVFR with mtn obscurations is expanding through northwestern NM at KFMN-KGUP this morning as an upper low over northern AZ approaches. These conditions will continue there through 16Z-18Z before stronger wly winds with gusts of 20-30kts arrive with a Pacific fropa. Snow showers and mtn obscurations will become focused over the northern mtns, spreading to the far northeastern plains from KRTN-KCAO late day into the evening. Elsewhere, strong WSW/W winds fill in beginning 15Z with the strongest gusts of 30-45kts through central and eastern NM today. Periods of bldu will bring pockets of lower visibility in these areas this afternoon. These stronger wly winds will push back a backdoor cold front that has brought weak to moderate nely winds through northeastern and east-central NM this morning. Some spotty low clouds have developed behind the backdoor front this morning, evident on satellite, and TAF amds may be necessary at KLVS through the early morning hours if it expands further south. The backdoor front will readvance bringing another nely wind shift through eastern NM tonight. 24 && .PREV DISCUSSION...329 AM MST Sun Mar 6 2022... .SYNOPSIS... An active and unseasonably cool weather pattern will continue to unfold over northern and central New Mexico today and through most of the remainder of the week as repeated upper level disturbances and cold fronts move across the state. Temperatures today will be below average for all but the far east central to southeastern plains of the state. As a Pacific front moves through today, windy conditions will also unfold, especially along and south of Interstate 40. Light rain and snow showers will favor the northern tier of New Mexico today before coming to an end this evening. While lighter winds are expected on Monday and Tuesday, there will still be some moderately breezy conditions in many areas with another shot of colder air and light precipitation expected for northern New Mexico locations. Breezy to windy conditions return on Wednesday, and even though temperatures will warm a few degrees, another cold front and round of precipitation will arrive for northern New Mexico again on Thursday. && .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...(TODAY THROUGH MONDAY)... With another closed upper low over northern AZ approaching the area from the west, more strong SW/W windy conditions are in-store across much of the area along and southeast of I-25 and I-40 today. Confidence remains high that a strong 100kt H5 jetmax and associated strong lower level winds will continue to support the wind advisory currently out over the southeastern quadrant of the forecast area. Have added in the middle Rio Grande Valley a bit earlier in the mid- morning given the expected Pacific cold frontal passage that should bring a bout of advisory level winds as well. Wind Advisories west of the Pecos River were also changed to a 8am start time. The potential remains for a few strong gusts to 60 mph hitting the south- central mountains and southwest Chaves County given that area's closer proximity to the core of the jetmax passing overhead this afternoon, but confidence was too low to upgrade. Given the very dry conditions on top of the strong winds, have kept the mention of blowing dust which will add periods of low visibility along with the crosswinds hazard to area highways. This Pacific cold front does look to force the backdoor cold front portion to retreat a county or two back north through the northeastern plains this afternoon, forcing a northeast to west wind shift. This will reverse course with the backdoor front advancing back south and west through the eastern plains with a coinciding drop in wind speeds area wide tonight. Further north and of lesser impact will be the expansion of snow showers through northwestern NM this morning, becoming more focused over the northern mountains later in the day as the core of the H5 low passes west to east along the CO border. There is little change to the snow totals forecast across northern NM with a dusting at lower elevations north of I-40, with more notable amounts of 4" to 10" above 9,000' atop the Tusas and northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains. As snow tapers off over northwestern NM, it will begin to enter far northeastern NM along the CO border this evening as the backdoor front retakes its advances through the eastern plains. These accumulations will be light with spotty slick roads along the CO border between Raton to Clayton. Monday will see a trailing trough that will try to close over southern CO, bringing another Pacific cold front and light associated snow into northwestern NM by the end of the day. Overall, conditions will be clearer with cooler temperatures 10F-20F below normal area wide. LONG TERM...(MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY)... The aforementioned trough will continue to drop into northern NM Monday night, having more polar origin than its Pacific predecessors. Projected QPF from models has decreased for Monday night and returned to more reasonably light amounts, given the orientation and limited moisture of this feature. The cold pool aloft will host 500 mb temperatures near -30 C, but going into the daytime Tuesday, forecast high temperatures are not expected to lower much, if at all, from Monday's readings. West northwest flow aloft will strengthen into Wednesday with broad cyclonic curvature to the flow taking shape over the Rockies. A deepening lee-side surface low will also set up in northeast NM, and widespread breezy to windy conditions will develop. Deep vertical mixing and downsloping into the plains will allow temperatures to warm 5 to 15 degrees in most zones with the plains observing the biggest gains. Some southern and eastern zones may approach seasonal averages, but remaining areas will fall short of normal Wednesday afternoon. The flow buckles more into Thursday with dynamic forcing aloft slowly increasing over northern NM while a cold front spills southward down the Great Plains. Deterministic models are already exhibiting variances with the orientation and angle of approach for this upper level energy, but regardless this will reintroduce light precipitation to northern zones with colder air soon to revisit. A longwave trough will then evolve over the eastern ConUS into Friday with northwest flow left over NM. Temperatures will remain well below average on Friday, likely continuing to cool from Thursday's readings. A warming trend into next weekend would follow as the flow turns lighter and more zonal, however the next progressive perturbation will not be far behind, potentially crossing the central to southern Rockies by Monday of next week. 24/52 && .FIRE WEATHER... ...RED FLAG WARNING NOW IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING FOR PORTIONS OF THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY AND THE EAST CENTRAL PLAINS OF NEW MEXICO... Another day of critical fire weather remains on course for areas along and south of I-40 through the eastern plains as well as the middle Rio Grande Valley. An upper level low will bring cooler temperatures today, however strong westerly winds and exceptionally dry conditions highlighted by minimum humidity dropping to single digits to the low teens will still allow for several hours of critical fire weather today. Critical fire weather conditions subside after sunset as winds calm. A backdoor cold front will bring a northeasterly wind shift through the eastern plains tonight with a a drop in temperatures in its wake for Monday. Temperatures rebound thereafter through Wednesday with flow turning more zonal and breezy to windy by Wednesday. The next system bringing the next round of precipitation the northern mountains and windy conditions south of I- 40 arrives Thursday. 24 && .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE Snow showers will spread into the northwest NM through the early morning hours before becoming focused across the northern high terrain by mid day. KGUP and KFMN are likely to be impacted with lesser confidence at KSAF. MVFR to IFR cigs and vsbys will be possible with the snow as well as mt obscurations. By late afternoon, precipitation will focus across northeast NM behind a backdoor cold front before ending around 06z Monday. Meanwhile, strong west to southwest winds will return by mid to late Sunday morning for all but northeast NM and will persist through the afternoon hours. The strongest winds will be south of I-40 where gusts between 40 and 45 kts will be possible. Areas of blowing dust and reduced visibility will be possible, including at KROW. The aforementioned backdoor front is already pushing into northeast NM and should push through KTCC Sunday morning. Localized MVFR cigs will be possible behind the front Sunday morning. 34 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 7 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ106-108. Wind Advisory until 6 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ219>226-239>241. Wind Advisory until 6 PM MST this evening for the following zones... NMZ233>238. Winter Weather Advisory until 5 PM MST this afternoon for the following zones... NMZ210-213. &&
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
731 AM MST SUN MAR 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0731 AM SNOW 6 W LOS ALAMOS 35.89N 106.39W
03/06/2022 M1.0 INCH LOS ALAMOS NM PUBLIC
PAJARITO SKI AREA.
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
732 AM MST SUN MAR 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0732 AM SNOW RED RIVER 36.71N 105.42W
03/06/2022 M3.0 INCH TAOS NM PUBLIC
RED RIVER SKI AREA.
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
820 AM MST SUN MAR 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0820 AM SNOW 7 E CHUPADERO 35.79N 105.80W
03/06/2022 M2.0 INCH SANTA FE NM PUBLIC
SANTA FE SKI AREA.
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
913 AM MST SUN MAR 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0821 AM SNOW 1 ESE CEDAR HILL 36.93N 107.88W
03/06/2022 M4.2 INCH SAN JUAN NM COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION NM-SJ-38 AZTEC 9.9 NE.
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
958 AM MST SUN MAR 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0956 AM SNOW EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUM 35.04N 108.35W
03/06/2022 M1.0 INCH CIBOLA NM CO-OP OBSERVER
&&PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
1056 AM MST SUN MAR 6 2022
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 AM SNOW 2 ENE TAOS 36.39N 105.55W
03/06/2022 M5.0 INCH TAOS NM COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION NM-TS-27 TAOS 1.6 SE.
0700 AM SNOW 5 E AZTEC RUINS NATIONA 36.83N 107.91W
03/06/2022 M4.0 INCH SAN JUAN NM COCORAHS
COCORAHS STATION NM-SJ-48 AZTEC 5.2 E.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
An ASOS station in Clines Corners measured a peak wind gust of 61 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, March 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: 1001316.