A strong cold front surged down the high plains of eastern NM the night of April 27th and into the morning of April 28th. Short duration high wind gusts were observed at Raton and Clayton, NM.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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.
A strong cold front surged down the high plains of eastern NM the night of April 27th and into the morning of April 28th. Short duration high wind gusts were observed at Raton and Clayton, NM. This frontal boundary squeezed through the gaps of the central mountain chain, bringing a short duration high wind gust into the Upper Tularosa Valley as well. Thankfully, there were no reports of wind damage.
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 28, 10:27 AM MST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1127 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 ...New AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 213 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 Conditions are currently changing rapidly across northern and central New Mexico as a vigorous storm system continues diving south along the Rockies into northern New Mexico. Gusty north to northwest winds are expected across most of the region this morning with some shower and higher elevation snow activity along and east of the central mountain chain. Winds slowly taper in the afternoon hours, as the system exits into Texas around sunset. Clearing skies and light winds will allow for temperature to drop below freezing across the higher terrain and in the low to mid 30s elsewhere. A rapid warming trend is expected this weekend, as high pressure builds east and moves overhead. Shower/storm chances return for the northern mountains on Monday, and for areas along and east of the central mountain chain Tuesday and Wednesday, due to increasing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico interacting with a storm system along the California coastline. Drier conditions are possible late next week thanks to westerly flow. Temperatures will remain at to a few degrees above average. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Saturday) Issued at 213 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 The Alberta clipper is currently dropping into CO and will skim across eastern NM today, bringing a sharp and dramatic change to weather conditions. The associated cold front has already entered north central areas and overtaken the northeastern quadrant of NM early this morning, and the base of the shortwave trough will move over north central parts of the state by dawn. This will allow the plains segment of the front to continue to overtake all eastern NM zones through that time frame while winds shift northwesterly and surge up in speed across northwestern zones. This will lead to a convergence of frontal segments over north central to central NM this morning with chaotic and rapidly changing wind directions and very gusty conditions. Have opted not to expand the Wind Advisory this morning, but some adjacent central zones (such as the Sandia/Manzano and Estancia valley) may briefly observe worthy gusts for an hour or two before subsiding some by the late morning and early afternoon. The precipitation shield has also expanded over southeastern CO and will be spreading into northeastern and eventually east central NM through the remainder of the morning with some spillage also into central zones. Much of the precipitation will occur in a quick-hitting fashion, driven by low level frontogenetical and dynamic upper forcing. While light amounts are generally expected, upslope flow on the north faces of the Johnson and Bartlett mesas and near the Raton Pass will create brief whiteout conditions with a couple to a few inches of snow accumulation before noon with improving conditions thereafter. Winds will stay gusty in the plains through the late afternoon, but many areas will likely observe subsiding speeds beforehand. Last, but not least, the temperature impacts from the aforementioned front will be substantial with readings plummeting 5 to 30 degrees below normal with the most noteworthy departures in the far eastern plains. Winds will settle more this evening with a general clearing trend through the late evening before another round of high cirrus begins to roll in from the north. Low temperature guidance for tonight has trended up by a couple to a few degrees in many locations, and this should preclude the need for any Freeze Warnings tonight, as the locations that will drop below 32 F are still yet to reach their median last spring freeze date. For Saturday, a ridge of high pressure aloft will swell over the Baja and parts of the American Southwest, but NM will still be under northwest flow aloft. Regardless, a pronounced warm up is expected with all zones approaching within a few degrees of normalcy Saturday afternoon. Otherwise, dry conditions are forecast with light to moderate breezes expected, a chamber of commerce weather day as they say. && .LONG TERM... (Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 213 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 The end of April warmup continues areawide on Sunday, as the ridge axis inches closer towards the region. Temperatures on Sunday look to be the warmest of the forecast period with low to mid 80s common in lower elevations and 70s across the higher elevations and northeast plains. Roswell will be the hot spot with highs topping out in the low 90s! The warmup will be muted across northeast NM due to a backdoor cold front sliding southwest in association with a sprawling upper level low over the Great Lakes. This backdoor front could spark off a shower or storm over the Sangre de Cristo mountains Sunday afternoon. Northwest winds could get breezy at times across central and north central NM. The backdoor front digs further south and west into eastern NM on Monday, allowing surface moisture to increase across eastern NM and temperatures to cool a bit. Dewpoints rise into the 30s to near 40 and with some daytime heating, this could help to kick off an isolated shower or storm along the east slopes of the Sangres. Dry and locally breezy southwest winds continue for western and central NM ahead of a slow moving upper level low along the Pacific coastline. Into Tuesday, east to southeast surface flow along the western periphery of high pressure centered in the lower Mississippi River valley, will help keep moist return flow across eastern NM. This combined with surface heating and a subtle disturbance rotating northeast around the Pacific upper low, will allow isolated showers/storms to pop up during the afternoon and evening hours across eastern and maybe central areas, fizzling out shortly after sunset. Slightly cooler temperatures are expected across western and central NM, due to upper and mid level cloud cover and somewhat lower heights. Temperatures will still be around 5 degrees above average. Wednesday looks to be fairly similar to Tuesday, with maybe slightly less storm coverage across the east. The latter half of next week looks even drier across the east and a little more cooler, but still near average, across western and central areas, as the Pacific upper low opens up and moves northeast towards the northern and central Rockies. Thursday looks to be the breeziest day of the period due to slightly stronger southwest flow overhead. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1105 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 Strong winds gusting between 40 to 50 kts will be quite common early this afternoon for much of the eastern plains and also in west-central areas. Wind speeds will decrease through mid to late afternoon and precipitation comes to an end. VFR conditions are forecast for all terminals tonight into Saturday with the exception of patchy fog is possible in and near KSAF early Saturday morning thanks to fresh snowfall from this morning. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 213 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 Unsettled weather will plague NM today as a potent upper level disturbance and accompanying cold front spill into NM. In addition to much colder temperatures, strong and gusty winds will also arrive from the north along with areas of rain and snow over central and eastern areas of the state with a concentration of snow in the high elevations of northeastern NM. In contrast, drier conditions are expected to hold over most of western NM today. The arrival of stronger winds there will lead to a couple hours of spotty or marginally critical fire weather, but the cooler than average temperatures and lower Haines indices would be acting to offset or at least limit these critical conditions some this afternoon. A welcome respite from the strong winds is forecast this weekend into next week as a ridge of high pressure slowly builds in and acts as a fair weather maker. Temperatures will escalate and warm above average in the early part of next week, slowly returning closer to average by the middle part of the week. There are still indications that scant moisture may sneak into eastern and perhaps central NM by the middle of next week, introducing low chances for precipitation && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 69 36 76 41 / 0 0 0 0 Dulce........................... 62 27 70 31 / 20 0 0 0 Cuba............................ 62 32 71 41 / 30 5 0 0 Gallup.......................... 64 27 75 38 / 0 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 62 28 71 41 / 5 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 64 27 75 36 / 5 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 64 31 73 40 / 0 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 57 34 73 44 / 10 0 0 0 Datil........................... 59 32 72 41 / 5 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 67 33 78 36 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 72 41 80 49 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 55 24 64 31 / 50 0 10 0 Los Alamos...................... 58 35 68 43 / 60 0 0 0 Pecos........................... 51 29 67 40 / 80 5 0 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 52 27 64 42 / 80 0 5 0 Red River....................... 43 23 55 33 / 80 5 5 0 Angel Fire...................... 47 16 60 25 / 80 0 5 5 Taos............................ 56 24 68 33 / 60 0 0 0 Mora............................ 50 27 66 37 / 80 0 5 0 Espanola........................ 63 33 74 40 / 70 0 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 56 31 69 43 / 80 0 0 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 58 31 72 41 / 70 0 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 57 38 73 50 / 50 0 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 59 40 75 47 / 40 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 61 34 78 44 / 30 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 59 38 77 46 / 40 0 0 0 Belen........................... 62 35 78 41 / 30 0 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 60 35 77 46 / 50 0 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 61 34 78 41 / 30 0 0 0 Corrales........................ 60 37 77 46 / 40 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 62 35 77 41 / 30 0 0 0 Placitas........................ 58 35 74 47 / 60 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 59 37 76 46 / 40 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 63 37 79 45 / 10 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 54 33 68 44 / 60 0 0 0 Tijeras......................... 55 32 70 44 / 60 0 0 0 Edgewood........................ 53 27 70 39 / 60 0 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 53 25 72 35 / 60 0 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 49 29 68 38 / 70 0 0 0 Mountainair..................... 50 29 70 40 / 40 0 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 49 31 70 41 / 40 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 52 37 71 49 / 30 5 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 47 33 66 45 / 40 5 0 0 Capulin......................... 47 28 62 34 / 80 0 0 0 Raton........................... 53 26 69 33 / 60 0 0 0 Springer........................ 55 28 71 34 / 50 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 50 27 68 38 / 70 0 0 0 Clayton......................... 53 35 70 40 / 70 0 0 0 Roy............................. 52 32 69 38 / 70 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 58 35 75 41 / 80 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 55 34 74 41 / 70 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 55 35 74 41 / 80 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 50 36 73 42 / 60 5 0 0 Portales........................ 49 34 75 41 / 50 5 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 55 35 76 41 / 50 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 58 38 79 46 / 40 5 0 0 Picacho......................... 50 37 74 46 / 40 5 0 0 Elk............................. 52 34 71 45 / 30 10 0 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory until 6 PM MDT this evening for NMZ201-202-204-206- 207-218-219-223-228>238. Winter Weather Advisory until noon MDT today for NMZ227. && SHORT TERM...52 LONG TERM....71 AVIATION...33
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 808 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 NMZ210>217-011500- Tusas Mountains Including Chama-Jemez Mountains- Glorieta Mesa Including Glorieta Pass- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains- East Slopes Sangre de Cristo Mountains-Upper Rio Grande Valley- Espanola Valley- 808 AM MDT Fri Apr 28 2023 ...RAPID SNOWMELT LEADING TO EXCESSIVE RUNOFF IN NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OF NEW MEXICO... Warming temperatures over the northern mountains continue to drive rapid snowmelt and runoff. Creeks and rivers in the mountains will continue to experience higher flows and variability in water levels. Mountain roads may experience localized flooding. HAZARD...Elevated water levels and flows in creeks and rivers. Localized flooding possible especially over low water crossings. IMPACT...Potential for impassable roads at high elevations. Locations impacted include... All rivers and creeks in the Sangre de Cristo and Tusas mountains. All northern tributaries of the Rio Grande. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Exercise extreme caution near cold, fast flowing water and river banks. Do not drive through flooded roadways. Be wary of rock and mudslides in steep locations.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
834 AM MDT FRI APR 28 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0652 AM NON-TSTM WND GST 1 E CLAYTON 36.45N 103.15W
04/28/2023 M59 MPH UNION NM ASOS
ASOS STATION KCAO CLAYTON MUNI AIRPARK.
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Phillips Hill mesonet station measured a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
The Raton Airport measured a peak wind gust of 66 mph.
The Clayton Airport ASOS measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, April 2023
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: 1084242, 1084243, 1084244.