With several weeks of persistent high winds and very dry conditions across northern and central New Mexico, early May brought more of the same to the area which was suffering from devastating wildfires. A very active storm track continued to affect the western United States, but instead of precipitation, high winds were much more common for New Mexico.
Every event with a place to put it; 13 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 several weeks of persistent high winds and very dry conditions across northern and central New Mexico, early May brought more of the same to the area which was suffering from devastating wildfires. A very active storm track continued to affect the western United States, but instead of precipitation, high winds were much more common for New Mexico. Beginning on May 8, 2022, a slow-moving storm system began to track southward along the west coast which steered a potent polar jet across New Mexico. Wind speeds first strengthened across the northern high terrain early on May 8th and then spread into lower elevations during the afternoon and evening hours. These high winds persisted through the overnight hours and during much of the day on May 9th before finally diminishing after sunset. Wind speeds of 40 to 55 mph were common across much of northern and central New Mexico. High winds in excess of 58 mph were common across much of the high terrain and mountainous areas. This was particularly devasting for the ongoing wildfires across northern New Mexico. This dangerous pattern allowed the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires to spread at additional 20,000 acres.
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 May 7, 4:44 PM MST, 4 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 544 PM MDT Sat May 7 2022 .AVIATION... 00Z TAF CYCLE Increasing southwest to westerly flow through the TAF period, along with a deepening lee side trough, will result in strong and gusty winds peaking Sunday afternoon. Gusts to between 40-50kts will be common Sunday afternoon. An Airport Weather Warning at KABQ is currently in effect through 02Z for gusts to 37kts and another warning will likely be required Sunday afternoon/evening. Smoke from nearby wildfires may briefly drop vsbys to MVFR at KSAF and KLVS, but forecast confidence was too low to include in this TAF cycle. Areas of blowing dust are likely across western NM Sunday afternoon and will impact area terminals, but vsbys will also likely remain VFR. Otherwise, VFR conditions prevail and are forecast to persist. 11 && .PREV DISCUSSION...520 PM MDT Sat May 7 2022... ...HIGH WINDS RESULTING IN DANGEROUS AND EXTREME FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SUNDAY... ...A DANGEROUS, LONG DURATION AND POTENTIALLY HISTORIC CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER EVENT TO CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF NEXT WEEK... .SYNOPSIS... The bottom line is that the forecast is ON track for a dangerous and prolonged fire weather event. Tonight winds will not decrease much if any at all and humidity levels will not increase much overnight. This means any fires could potentially grow overnight. It also means that any residents near the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, Cerro Pelado Fire and Bear Trap Fire need to be ready to go if evacuation orders are made. These next several days are not good days to do any outdoor work which may create a spark igniting a fire. Sunday extremely critical fire weather conditions are forecast for areas from Albuquerque to Raton eastward to Santa Rosa and Tucumcari. This includes the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and adjacent Highlands as well as the Sandia and Manzano Mountains. There is a high chance of sustained winds of 30-50 mph with gusts reaching 70 mph especially in the higher terrain and mountain gaps. High wind gusts will also be expected over the Four Corners, Continental Divide and Tusas Mountains. Winds decrease some on Monday but not enough to even rule out the potential for extreme fire weather conditions. Winds do look to decrease Tuesday through Thursday in the coming week but again, red flag warnings will likely be needed. && .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT)... Stout jet continues to feed inland off of the northeastern Pacific waters. While the core of the jet remains north of the Four Corners, it continues to bring increasing southwest winds aloft to NM. Pressure heights have risen considerably with temperatures soaring above average, and a few record highs may even be reached before this evening. The warm temperatures are allowing for very deep vertical mixing, and many locales will likely mix up to 500 mb before sunset, so winds will continue to increase over the next couple of hours and peak in the very late afternoon and early evening. Today’s crop of wind advisories will expire early this evening in lower elevation zones where strong winds should subside, but likely not fully decouple. As a pair of perturbations translate through the developing longwave trough and eject into the Canadian Rockies, another upper low will dive on their heels toward the OR coast tonight. This will keep the southwesterlies aloft increasing overnight. The diurnal mixing trends and developing mountain wave activity is reflected within projected wind speeds at 700 mb, as they are advertised to reach 50 to 60 kt along and downwind of many high terrain areas within NM tonight, before briefly dropping slightly into Sunday and then surging up once again Sunday night. Concerns for damaging wind gusts of 60 mph were high enough to warrant an upgrade of the High Wind Watch to a Warning that will be extended into Monday morning when the strongest speeds aloft could occur. Going into the daytime Sunday, another suite of wind advisories will be needed surrounding the high wind warnings as a very deep lee-side surface low bottoms out over eastern CO. Pressure heights do fall a few decameters into Sunday, and daytime high temperatures will lower a few degrees, but still remain 5 to 15 degrees above normal in most zones. LONG TERM...(MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT)... The upper level trough over the Pacific NW and Great Basin really remains quasi-stationary with the trough itself becoming more elongated over the weekend. This pushes a strong jet stream over the Desert SW into New Mexico tonight and Sunday. It then persists over New Mexico on Monday however part of the upper low begins to retrograde back over the Pacific with 500mb height rises going into Monday night and Tuesday. GFS/EC ensembles means are in pretty decent agreement with this evolution so we are expecting winds to slack off on Monday. Tuesday there is still enough of a 500mb height gradient to support some higher winds which could then mix down to the surface but the upper low becomes positioned over N California as a anomalously strong upper level ridge develops downstream over the Mississippi River valley. This pattern is resembles more of a summer time monsoon pattern however there is no moisture tap from the Pacific. The trough finally makes a negative tilt push out over the Four Corners region on Thursday. After that the pattern becomes more zonal so we might get a longer break in the gusty and high winds by the end of the coming week. While the forecast for the most part is dry as far as precipitation chances go we do get some moisture return Tuesday night into Wednesday over the eastern plains. Dewpoints rise into the 40s and will support some 20-40 percent chances of showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday. Dryline does retreat back far enough to allow for this moisture return and then pushes back east as the trough to the west swings into the 4 Corners region. GFS is more supportive of convection during this time than the ECMWF but certainly a signal to monitor in the coming days. Severe weather potential will be borderline with CAPE maybe 1200 J/kg. Deep layer shear will be increasing Wednesday night from 30kts to 40-50kts so it might be enough out of phase with convection to limit the severe potential. As it stands now...favored area for convection runs from Santa Rosa to Tucumcari and Dalhart TX. 52/39 && .FIRE WEATHER... ...DANGEROUS AND LONG DURATION CRITICAL TO EXTREME FIRE WEATHER CONTINUING THIS WEEKEND INTO NEXT WEEK... Winds continue to increase this afternoon, marking the onset of a long duration critical to extreme fire weather pattern that will persist well into next week. All areas of northern and central NM will remain at risk of critical conditions through at least the early evening with high terrain areas generally observing the highest wind speeds (gusts of 45 to 55 mph). Areas along and just downwind of the central mountain chain (FWZ 103 and 107) will observe intermittent gusty conditions overnight along with possible mountain wave activity and in addition to this wind threat, poor humidity recoveries through Sunday morning are expected, therefore the Red Flag Warning will persist through the night there. Stronger winds are expected across all of northern and central NM on Sunday with the higher terrain areas again expected to observe the highest speeds (gusts of 50 to 60 mph). Despite temperatures cooling just a few degrees, exceptionally low humidity will redevelop in the afternoon with high Haines and volatile conditions that will yield critical to extreme fire weather conditions, especially over the northern mountains, northeast highlands down to the central highlands. Surface/20ft level winds may subside Sunday evening, but once again high terrain areas will succumb to a strengthening of winds aloft, mountain wave activity and intermittent gusts. Therefore the Red Flag Warning for FWZ103 and 107 will extend right into Monday. Only a subtle reduction in southwesterly winds is expected on Monday, along with similar temperature and humidity trends to what is expected on Sunday. Another day of high Haines indices (values of 5 to 6 over all of northern and central NM) and very unstable conditions is also expected. Current Energy Release Component’s with many fuel sources in the region are already soaring above 90 th percentiles and many locations could reach historic levels by day’s end Monday, the third day in a row of such persistent and abysmally dry conditions. Wind speeds are not projected to be nearly as strong on Tuesday as the low dives into CA, but still gusty and exceeding traditional critical thresholds. Winds will then likely increase again Wednesday into Thursday as the low ejects into the northern plains, only to be followed by another potent and progressive upper trough into the latter part of next week. 52 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 10 PM MDT this evening for the following zones... NMZ101-102-104>106-108-109. Red Flag Warning from 10 AM to 10 PM MDT Sunday for the following zones... NMZ101-102-104>106-108-109. Red Flag Warning from 9 AM to 9 PM MDT Monday for the following zones... NMZ101-102-104>106-108-109. Wind Advisory until 8 PM MDT this evening for the following zones... NMZ201>206-210-211-215-216-223-226-228-229. High Wind Warning from 2 AM Sunday to 6 AM MDT Monday for the following zones... NMZ202-205-206-208-210>216-221-223-224-226>229. Red Flag Warning until 9 PM MDT Monday for the following zones... NMZ103-107. &&
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
13 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A portable RAWS station near Cowles measured a peak wind gust of 62 mph.
An AWOS station near Angel Fire measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph.
An ASOS station near Las Vegas measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph.
An ASOS station near Gallup measured a peak wind gust of 66 mph.
A weather station near Vanderwagen measured a peak sustained wind speed of 42 mph.
A weather station near Thoreau measured a peak sustained wind speed of 44 mph.
An ASOS station near Clayton measured a brief wind gust of 59 mph.
A weather station near Taos measured a peak sustained wind speed of 42 mph.
A portable RAWS station near Frijoles measured a peak wind gust of 64 mph.
A weather station near Sandia Park measured a peak wind gust of 58 mph.
A weather station near Tucumcari measured a peak sustained wind speed of 40 mph.
An ASOS station near Tucumcari measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph.
An ASOS station near Raton measured a peak wind gust of 58 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, May 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: 1013244, 1013245, 1013247, 1013242, 1013230, 1013231, 1013250, 1013232, 1013243, 1013234, 1013233, 1013248, 1013246.