Very dry surface conditions combined with an influx of mid-level moisture allowed for scattered virga showers and dry thunderstorms to develop over central and eastern NM during the afternoon hours of June 27th. Several of these produced severe downburst winds that impacted sporadic locations across eastern NM.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Very dry surface conditions combined with an influx of mid-level moisture allowed for scattered virga showers and dry thunderstorms to develop over central and eastern NM during the afternoon hours of June 27th. Several of these produced severe downburst winds that impacted sporadic locations across eastern NM. These included Fort Sumner, Tucumcari, Estancia, Las Vegas, Carrizozo, and Raton. Thankfully, there were no reports of damages or injuries.
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 Jun 27, 11:20 AM MST, 40 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1220 PM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 ...New UPDATE, AVIATION... .UPDATE... Issued at 1212 PM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 Updating zones to add dry and gusty thunderstorms to the forecast across east central areas, since storms are already beginning to fire up there. && .UPDATE... Issued at 450 AM MDT Tue Jan 27 2023 Added the mention of strong to severe storms in portions of northeast New Mexico per the latest SPC Day 1 outlook. Also mentioned isolated thunder this morning over portions of northwest New Mexico. ZFP update just sent. && .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 450 AM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 Hot temperatures will persist throughout the week, with hazardous heat expected in the eastern and southeastern plains today and tomorrow. Temperatures will begin a cooling trend thereafter. Breezy to locally conditions will favor western New Mexico and the northern mountains today in the afternoon. Daily rounds of isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms will be possible, with activity today and tomorrow being drier in nature. Isolated strong to severe storms are possible over northeast New Mexico this afternoon and evening. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Wednesday) Issued at 303 AM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 Widely scattered light showers and a few lightning strikes have continued into the overnight mainly along and east of the Continental Divide to the Texas border. While dew points continue to slowly climb, the dryline has seeped back into far eastern New Mexico, although the potential for low clouds doesn't appear all that likely given the amount of mid level clouds observed. Didn't fuss with the current Wind Advisory for today, but can't rule out some other areas at least hitting advisory speeds at some point this afternoon, especially the Northeast Highlands where there are greater differences in guidance speeds. Also added Roosevelt County to the inherited Heat Advisory, as Portales could reach criteria this afternoon as well as heat up close to the record high temperature. Models in general agreement a swath of convection will be concentrated from southwest to northeast over the state this afternoon into the early evening. This would still be mostly dry but as earlier noted dew points have been slowly increasing but even the NAM12 isn't enthused about any rain amounts of more than a few hundredths of an inch. Higher humidities may also advect northward into southeast and portions of east central New Mexico tonight but moreso Wednesday night. Wednesday's winds won't be quite as strong as today's but convection will return in the afternoon again stretching from southwest to northeast over the state. High temperatures Wednesday will be a degree or two "cooler" for the west and south. && .LONG TERM... (Wednesday night through Monday) Issued at 303 AM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 Upper level high pressure center will position itself over the TX/LA border Wednesday night as a baggy trough swings into the Great Basin. This will help to offer some relief to the heat felt earlier in the week. Roswell, who up until this point is forecast to have 10 days of temperatures over 105F, will be right on the razor's edge of adding one more day to the streak Thursday. Thankfully, models suggest that the streak should end there, with Friday's high dipping down to 102F. An influx of moisture from the Baja combining with the elevated lift from the aforementioned trough, will give rise to a few showers and thunderstorms over the high terrain Thursday afternoon. The trough continues its trek to the Rockies Friday, the positive tilt of which drapes its axis across the Four Corners area. Another rough of afternoon showers and thunderstorms will be possible, favoring eastern NM. A messy pattern results thereafter, with high pressure struggling to reform over the southwest corner of the CONUS Friday night into Saturday. The trough ejects into the Great Plains Saturday, kicking off a backdoor front in its wake down the eastern plains. The extra lift will help to give rise to additional thunderstorm activity and may potentially bring a bout of east winds to the ABQ metro Saturday morning. The upper high solidifies itself on Sunday as a slug of moisture finds an avenue through the Chihuahuan Desert. This will lead to greater coverage of showers and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon, particularly across the central mts and eastward. Given the richer moisture profile, flash flooding will be a concern, especially across recent burn scars. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1212 PM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 Gusty virga showers and dry thunderstorms will impact TAF sites east of the continental divide this afternoon and evening, except they shouldn't reach as far south as Roswell. Erratic dry microburst wind gusts could exceed 45 kt in some cells. Strong to severe thunderstorms will be possible east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Convection looks to settle down by midnight tonight, but isolated and mainly dry and gusty showers and storms look to return to many areas on Wednesday afternoon and early evening. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 303 AM MDT Tue Jun 27 2023 ...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS PORTIONS OF THE NORTHWEST, WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TODAY... Hot, dry, and unstable weather to continue for the rest of the work week for most areas. The upper level high pressure system is forecast to shift to the northwest of NM by the weekend. In the meantime, plentiful mid level moisture will be stretched from southwest to northeast over the state, and will be fuel for mostly dry showers and thunderstorms with gusty variable winds today through Thursday. Stronger southwest winds today look to weaken somewhat on Wednesday, limiting the potential for critical conditions, although overnight humidity recovery will continue to be fair to poor. Low level moisture will seep back into the eastern side of the state by Friday and into the weekend with better overnight humidity recovery, which will allow for increasing potential for wetter convection along and east of the central mountain chain. Western NM will remain dry. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 95 54 93 56 / 10 0 0 0 Dulce........................... 87 44 87 47 / 20 0 5 5 Cuba............................ 87 52 88 55 / 20 5 5 0 Gallup.......................... 91 49 90 50 / 10 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 88 50 87 53 / 10 0 5 5 Grants.......................... 92 51 91 52 / 10 0 5 0 Quemado......................... 91 54 90 57 / 10 0 5 0 Magdalena....................... 92 62 90 62 / 20 10 20 5 Datil........................... 89 55 87 58 / 10 5 10 0 Reserve......................... 94 55 93 51 / 10 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 99 66 97 65 / 10 0 0 0 Chama........................... 81 44 82 46 / 20 5 5 0 Los Alamos...................... 87 56 88 62 / 20 20 10 5 Pecos........................... 88 57 88 59 / 20 20 10 10 Cerro/Questa.................... 84 47 85 49 / 20 10 10 5 Red River....................... 77 43 79 46 / 20 20 20 5 Angel Fire...................... 78 42 79 41 / 20 10 10 5 Taos............................ 87 49 88 50 / 20 10 10 5 Mora............................ 85 52 86 54 / 20 20 10 10 Espanola........................ 92 52 93 59 / 20 10 5 5 Santa Fe........................ 89 57 89 61 / 20 20 10 10 Santa Fe Airport................ 92 56 92 59 / 20 10 5 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 95 65 94 68 / 20 10 5 5 Albuquerque Heights............. 97 66 96 66 / 20 10 5 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 99 60 98 64 / 20 10 5 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 96 65 95 66 / 20 10 5 5 Belen........................... 99 65 98 62 / 20 10 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 97 62 97 65 / 20 10 5 0 Bosque Farms.................... 99 63 98 61 / 20 10 5 0 Corrales........................ 97 63 96 66 / 20 10 5 5 Los Lunas....................... 99 65 98 62 / 20 10 0 0 Placitas........................ 94 63 93 66 / 20 10 5 5 Rio Rancho...................... 96 64 95 66 / 20 10 5 5 Socorro......................... 101 68 100 67 / 20 10 5 5 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 89 59 88 62 / 20 10 10 5 Tijeras......................... 92 61 91 63 / 20 10 10 5 Edgewood........................ 92 58 91 58 / 20 10 10 5 Moriarty/Estancia............... 94 55 92 54 / 20 10 10 10 Clines Corners.................. 90 58 89 58 / 10 20 10 10 Mountainair..................... 92 60 91 59 / 10 10 10 10 Gran Quivira.................... 93 61 92 61 / 10 10 10 10 Carrizozo....................... 97 67 96 68 / 10 10 5 5 Ruidoso......................... 89 63 88 63 / 10 10 10 5 Capulin......................... 88 57 89 59 / 20 10 20 5 Raton........................... 91 56 93 57 / 20 10 10 5 Springer........................ 91 57 93 59 / 20 10 10 0 Las Vegas....................... 89 57 90 57 / 20 10 10 5 Clayton......................... 96 66 97 67 / 20 20 10 0 Roy............................. 92 61 94 63 / 20 10 10 0 Conchas......................... 99 65 98 67 / 10 10 10 5 Santa Rosa...................... 100 66 98 65 / 10 10 5 5 Tucumcari....................... 103 69 103 68 / 10 10 0 0 Clovis.......................... 103 70 102 69 / 10 10 0 5 Portales........................ 105 71 103 70 / 10 5 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 104 69 103 68 / 10 10 0 0 Roswell......................... 110 73 107 73 / 5 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 101 68 99 66 / 5 10 5 0 Elk............................. 96 65 95 63 / 5 0 5 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ101-105-123- 125. Wind Advisory until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ202-205. Heat Advisory until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ236-240. Excessive Heat Warning until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ238. && SHORT TERM...99 LONG TERM....12 AVIATION...44
The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:16 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind, 2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Las Vegas Airport ASOS measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph, likely enhanced by virga.
The Fort Sumner Airport reported a thunderstorm wind gust of 64 mph.
Tucumcari Airport measured a 61 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
The Raton Airport ASOS measured a 64 mph then 81 mph thunderstorm wind gusts within a five minute time span from one outflow boundary.
The FW4218 CWOP station near Estancia measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph, likely enhanced by virga.
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, June 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: 1098054, 1098055, 1098056, 1098057, 1098053.