Strong westerly flow over northern and central NM at the southern edge of an upper level disturbance was observed on January 17th. Some of these high winds aloft crashed to the surface east of the central mountain chain producing sporadic high wind gusts at several locations during the morning hours.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 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.
Strong westerly flow over northern and central NM at the southern edge of an upper level disturbance was observed on January 17th. Some of these high winds aloft crashed to the surface east of the central mountain chain producing sporadic high wind gusts at several locations during the morning hours. Westerly winds turned northwesterly on January 18th with high wind observations becoming isolated to western Guadalupe County during the morning hours. There were no reports of damage 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 Jan 17, 4:50 AM MST, 6 hours 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 450 AM MST Wed Jan 17 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 304 AM MST Wed Jan 17 2024 West to northwest winds will strengthen over the central mountain chain and nearby highlands through Thursday. The strongest winds are expected today and tonight with gusts of 40 to 55 mph. Some blowing snow is likely in the high terrain. Difficult travel may also occur for high-profile vehicles. The next cold front will move into eastern NM Thursday night on gusty northeast winds. Wind chills may fall to near zero again Friday morning over eastern NM. Saturday will be a transition day with increasing clouds and southerly winds. Rain and snow showers may then spread east into western NM Sunday. A more active storm track is expected through next week with daily bouts of rain and snow for parts of the area. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Thursday) Issued at 304 AM MST Wed Jan 17 2024 Key Messages: -Strong, gusty winds today across the Central Mountain Chain, Eastern Slopes, and portions of the Eastern Plains. -Warmup continues today and Thursday prior to next Arctic airmass invading the Eastern Plains (see Long Term Discussion). A weak wave, embedded within larger, relatively fast quasi-zonal flow aloft, is progged to move over the northern part of the CWA later this afternoon and into this evening. This "ripple" appears to be associated with the southern extent of a shortwave that can currently be seen on water-vapor satellite imagery diving into the Great Basin from the Pacific Northwest. Although dynamic forcing is not expected to be strong with this wave, it does tighten the height/pressure gradient substantially across the central mountain chain and adjacent east slope areas, with models indicating westerly winds of 40-50 knots at 700mb through the day and into the evening. Considering this, have maintained the inherited Wind Advisory, plus added the Quay and Eastern San Miguel County zones from 11 AM to 7 PM MST today. A few gusts approaching High Wind Warning criteria (58+ mph) cannot be ruled out in the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and NE/Central Highlands, with NBM guidance suggesting that the first of these would be favored. However, NBM wind guidance has been running too high lately, and any potentially damaging gusts would be dependent on mountain wave activity. Short story is that confidence was not high enough to issue any High Wind Warnings at this time. Otherwise, moisture being pulled up ahead of the aforementioned wave will bring isolated to scattered rain/snow showers to mainly the NW quadrant of New Mexico from this afternoon into the early evening. Due to the fast-moving nature of the wave, along with dynamics mostly lacking, QPF amounts are paltry, with a max of around 0.2 inches in the Chuska mountains, which could lead to a dusting up to around an inch of snow on the higher peaks. The other story today will be the continued warm-up, especially over the eastern plains where downsloping westerly winds will contribute to a 25-30 degree F jump in afternoon max temps vs. yesterday. Clayton, which has been in the icebox lately, should reach the lower 50s. Precipitation associated with the wave quickly ends this evening. A relatively warm night for mid-January is in store, with overnight lows 5-15 degrees above climo. These will be aided somewhat by a follow-up weak vort max (most pronounced in the NAM) cutting across NM from NW to SE overnight. This should also keep the winds up at advisory levels in the central mountains/adjacent highlands well into the evening. Did not adjust current ending time of Wind Advisory (midnight MST Thu), as at some point there should be a lull, before winds increase again Thursday morning, so will let next shift evaluate further. Warming trend continues into Thursday, especially south of I-40. Roswell may hit 70F. Next Arctic blast should be moving into extreme NE NM by early Thursday evening; more on that below. && .LONG TERM... (Thursday night through Tuesday) Issued at 304 AM MST Wed Jan 17 2024 The next surge of modified arctic air will enter eastern NM Thursday night as a potent 1050mb surface high builds south down the Front Range. An intense pressure gradient along the leading edge of this airmass will give way to a period of strong northeast winds across eastern NM. Gusts up to 45 mph are possible for an hour or two while the front surges southward. This modified arctic airmass is deeper than the one earlier this week with even higher surface pressure so there is a very high chance it will squeeze thru gaps in the central mt chain before sunrise Friday. Light to perhaps moderate gap winds are expected. Temps across eastern NM Friday were lowered closer to the NBM 25th percentile. Min temps Friday night will stay cold over eastern NM as a 1047mb surface high center only drifts south thru the Great Plains. Southerly winds will finally increase Saturday as the surface high moves farther east and upper level flow backs to the southwest over NM. Thick high clouds are likely to spread over NM with very limited sunshine. A more active pattern is expected to begin by Sunday as a series of moist storm systems move east from the Pacific. Valley rain showers and mountain snow will be possible first across western NM Sunday followed by potentially widespread rain and snow on Sunday night and/or Monday. Snow levels are currently forecast to hover near 7,000' with this first bout of precip. && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 443 AM MST Wed Jan 17 2024 Mainly VFR is expected to prevail at the terminals for the next 24 hours; however, strong and gusty westerly winds will be felt along and to the east of the central mountain chain. In particular, low-level wind shear is likely to occur in the vicinity of KLVS this afternoon and into the evening. Otherwise, a weak disturbance aloft should bring isolated to widely scattered rain/snow showers to KFMN/KGUP early this afternoon, progressing to KABQ/KAEG/KSAF later on. Brief MVFR ceilings could occur, but with chances of precip only 20-25%, not confident enough to include in TAF. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 304 AM MST Wed Jan 17 2024 Still no critical fire weather are expected for the next 7 days. However, strong and gusty westerly winds are expected on Wednesday along and just east of the Central Mountain Chain. Relative humidity values are forecast to fall to around 20% this afternoon in the southern Fire Weather zones, but the stronger 20-ft. winds will occur north of those zones. Fuel states are still not very receptive, with Fire Danger continuing to run Low-Moderate. That being said, localized elevated fire weather conditions can't be ruled out across the eastern plains. Breezy to windy conditions persist Thursday along and east of the Central Mountain Chain, though RH values trend a bit higher. Wetting precipitation may return to the northwest half of NM on Sunday, with other disturbances to follow, but their track is somewhat uncertain at this time. Mostly Fair to Good ventilation rates today and Thursday south of I-40, then becoming Poor again thereafter. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 40 23 43 23 / 20 10 0 0 Dulce........................... 42 15 42 15 / 40 10 0 0 Cuba............................ 42 23 41 19 / 20 30 0 0 Gallup.......................... 45 20 48 17 / 20 10 0 0 El Morro........................ 45 23 46 20 / 10 10 0 0 Grants.......................... 49 24 50 19 / 10 5 0 0 Quemado......................... 52 27 50 23 / 5 5 0 0 Magdalena....................... 55 32 54 29 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 52 31 50 27 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 58 23 61 23 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 60 38 63 35 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 39 16 40 13 / 30 20 0 0 Los Alamos...................... 42 27 44 24 / 5 10 0 0 Pecos........................... 43 28 47 19 / 0 5 0 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 42 25 42 18 / 5 5 0 0 Red River....................... 38 18 38 10 / 0 5 0 0 Angel Fire...................... 36 22 37 2 / 0 5 0 0 Taos............................ 39 17 40 13 / 5 5 5 0 Mora............................ 49 26 48 16 / 0 0 0 0 Espanola........................ 48 25 50 22 / 5 5 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 42 27 44 23 / 5 5 0 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 45 25 46 21 / 5 5 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 50 32 52 30 / 10 10 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 51 31 54 28 / 10 10 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 53 29 57 27 / 10 10 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 51 30 54 27 / 10 10 0 0 Belen........................... 56 28 58 24 / 10 5 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 50 31 53 27 / 10 10 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 54 26 57 24 / 10 10 0 0 Corrales........................ 51 31 54 27 / 10 10 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 55 28 58 24 / 10 10 0 0 Placitas........................ 47 32 48 27 / 10 10 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 50 31 53 27 / 10 10 0 0 Socorro......................... 60 33 65 31 / 5 5 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 43 31 44 24 / 10 20 0 0 Tijeras......................... 46 31 47 26 / 10 20 0 0 Edgewood........................ 47 29 48 19 / 5 10 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 50 27 51 16 / 5 5 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 45 28 46 17 / 0 0 0 0 Mountainair..................... 50 31 51 21 / 5 10 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 50 30 52 22 / 0 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 55 35 59 29 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 52 37 54 25 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 46 20 47 9 / 0 0 0 0 Raton........................... 50 18 51 10 / 0 0 0 0 Springer........................ 51 18 51 11 / 0 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 50 28 52 17 / 0 0 0 0 Clayton......................... 51 25 51 10 / 0 0 0 0 Roy............................. 53 25 53 14 / 0 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 56 27 59 16 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 55 34 57 17 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 58 28 58 12 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 59 33 63 15 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 59 36 64 13 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 60 33 62 15 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 63 34 70 24 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 64 38 65 22 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 64 37 66 23 / 0 0 0 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 7 PM MST this evening for NMZ232-234. Wind Advisory from 8 AM this morning to midnight MST tonight for NMZ212>215-221-223-229-233. && SHORT TERM...53-Schroeder LONG TERM....42 AVIATION...53
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Clines Corners ASOS measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph.
The Tucumcari ASOS measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph.
The Nogal mesonet station measured a peak gust of 58 mph.
The southeast Vaughn mesonet station measured a peak wind gust of 67 mph.
The southeast Vaughn mesonet station measured an hour of high sustained winds peaking at 44 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, January 2024
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: 1148189, 1148201, 1148190, 1148200, 1148198.