Strong southwest winds ahead of a weakening Pacific upper low moved over New Mexico during the day Easter Sunday. Deep boundary layer mixing across the highlands and plains of eastern New Mexico allowed these strong winds aloft to mix down to the surface resulting in high sustained winds above 40 mph and gusts as high as 65 mph.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 southwest winds ahead of a weakening Pacific upper low moved over New Mexico during the day Easter Sunday. Deep boundary layer mixing across the highlands and plains of eastern New Mexico allowed these strong winds aloft to mix down to the surface resulting in high sustained winds above 40 mph and gusts as high as 65 mph. Roswell observed a high wind gust of 63 mph resulting in blowing dust that reduced visibility to 6 miles. Winds tapered off just after sunset as the boundary layer decoupled.
Keywords: High Wind.
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 31, 4:49 AM MST, 5 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 549 AM MDT Sun Mar 31 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 259 AM MDT Sun Mar 31 2024 The strongest winds of the week are expected areawide today, with the highest gusts expected across the central mountain chain and adjacent highlands. Critical fire weather is expected once again across eastern New Mexico this afternoon. Showers enter western New Mexico this afternoon spreading east to the central mountains tonight. Monday will be a cooler and wetter day behind the frontal passage with dry and windy conditions across east central and southeast New Mexico. Snowfall will be limited to the northern mountains and Raton Pass area. Showers will taper off Monday night lingering longest across northeast New Mexico. Some showers will still be possible across central and southwest areas Tuesday. Warmer and dry conditions return Wednesday and Thursday. Strong winds and cooler temperatures return at the end of the week. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Monday) Issued at 259 AM MDT Sun Mar 31 2024 Potent cutoff low touring the CA coast tonight is allowing H5 pressure gradient across the Desert Southwest to tighten and flow to strengthen across northern and central NM. Increasing upper level flow and easy downward momentum transfer will translate to strong southwest winds today areawide. As the low splits and cruises inland this morning, H7 winds will strengthen in broad swaths to 50 to 60 kts. This will result in widespread strong wind gusts in the afternoon, particularly across the highlands of the central mts. Given the placement of these amplified H7 winds, did opt to expand the previously issued High Wind Warning and Wind Advisory by a few more zones. Blowing dust may potentially reduce visibilities in and around local dust sources this afternoon, particularly in Chaves Co. As pressure heights continue to lower and cloud cover increases, locales across the Cont Dvd and westward will see reductions in daytime highs as much as 10F to 15F compared to yesterday's readings. Elsewhere will see a more subtle reduction to Sunday's highs. As the system pushes eastward this afternoon, precipitation will begin to encroach upon western NM. While the majority of this activity will start out as rain, a quick transition to snow is expected as H7 temperatures plummet from a modest 0C to -6C by evening. As the disturbance migrates eastward overnight, precipitation chances will spread into central NM, eventually filling in across the RGV. Much cooler conditions are expected Sunday night and Monday as the upper level system tours the Desert Southwest. Afternoon highs on Monday will be in stark contrast to Sunday most areas, landing 10F to 15F colder. Showers and a few thunderstorms will persist across portions of western NM, with additional activity spreading into northern NM. Breezy to windy conditions Monday afternoon will favor the southeastern portion of the CWA as the 130 kt 300mb jet max passes over the area. A backdoor front begins to make its descent down the eastern plains, which will lead to enhanced lift in and around Raton Pass and the initiation of additional rain/snow showers. && .LONG TERM... (Monday night through Saturday) Issued at 259 AM MDT Sun Mar 31 2024 A positively tiled longwave trough will be across the central US with the tail across New Mexico heading into Monday night. Decreasing CVA will allow showers across western and central NM to wane after sunset. Showers will be slower to taper off across northeast and parts of east central NM due to surface convergence along the backdoor front. The backdoor front moves through all of the eastern plains by daybreak Tuesday. The southern tail of the longwave trough hangs back and remains over the state on Tuesday. With the colder core aloft, daytime heating and instability will result in the development of isolated to scattered showers across central and southwestern areas during the afternoon hours. Temperatures will moderate a little across western and central NM, but cool a little further across eastern NM behind the aforementioned backdoor front. North winds across the eastern plains will be brisk during the afternoon and early evening hours. Any shower activity across central and southwestern areas dissipates around sunset with the loss of daytime heating with clear skies overnight. The trough feature becomes a weekly defined low over northern Mexico near the Big Bend Wednesday, but upper level riding over the Great Basin and intermountain West will be the more dominant feature resulting in clear skies, warmer temperatures by around 9 to 13 degrees compared to Tuesday, and light winds. The warmup continues Thursday with temperatures near to slightly above normal for early April and light southerly breezes as the ridge axis moves east into the High Plains. South winds really strengthen areawide on Friday as the upper level ridge moves east over the Great Plains in response to the next abnormally deep upper level low moving into the Pacific Coast. Some guidance is already indicating Wind Advisory criteria for western NM, the central mountain chain, and the northeast and far northeast highlands due to deep mixing tapping into 50 kt winds at 500-700 mb. These winds could increase as we get closer if trends continues. Critical fire weather looks to occur across the middle RGV and eastern NM; however the south to slightly southeast winds could help to bring some shallow Gulf moisture to the eastern plains. Temperatures cool a little across western NM due to lower upper level heights. There is some uncertainty to how far south the upper low tracks with the southern track envelope bringing precip to western and north central NM late Friday into the 1st half of Saturday behind the Pacific front. Models do agree on an sharp cooldown behind the front, especially across western NM and some of central NM, on Saturday with gusty west to southwest winds due to the development of a strong surface lee low in eastern CO. && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 540 AM MDT Sun Mar 31 2024 Strengthening swly winds expected this morning, with gusts beginning to occur at several terminals aft 31/15Z. Gusts of 35 to 45 kts will be commonplace this aftn, with gusts of 50 kts and greater possible along the highlands of the central mts, as well as in and around the south centrl mts. BLDU may cause MVFR reductions in vsbys, particularly in ern NM, with lcl reductions to IFR possible. The fropa will bring a wly wind shift to wrn NM in the late aftn/early evening, with increasing coverage of precip. MVFR/IFR cigs/vsbys are expected in wrn NM aft 31/22Z. The front will advance ewd overnight, spreading shwrs and subsequent drops in cigs/vsbys into the Rio Grande Valley and central mts towards the end of the TAF period. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 259 AM MDT Sun Mar 31 2024 ...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS EASTERN NEW MEXICO... Strong southwest winds combining with low humidity will lead to critical fire weather conditions across eastern New Mexico this afternoon. Winds will amplify early today ahead of an approaching disturbance, with the highest gusts expected between 1400 and 1700 MDT. Gusts of 45 to 55 mph will be commonplace across much of northern and central New Mexico, while gusts of 60+ mph favor the highlands of the central mountains. Improved moisture with the passing trough will limit critical fire weather conditions on Monday as minimum humidity surges above 20 percent. A drying and warming trend will take hold Wednesday with a stark reduction in minimum relative humidity being seen areawide of 10 to 20 percent. The upper level ridge will lend to lighter winds Wednesday and Thursday but the ridge is anticipated to begin breaking down on Thursday night. The next upper level disturbance begins pushing inland Thursday night, dipping down into the Great Basin Friday. This will allow winds on Friday to strengthen amongst minimum relative humidity in the teens, bringing the potential for widespread critical fire weather conditions. Winds will remain elevated on Saturday with the focus on lower humidity across the eastern plains bringing elevated to critical fire weather conditions to eastern New Mexico. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 56 33 53 31 / 40 20 30 5 Dulce........................... 56 28 48 23 / 50 60 70 30 Cuba............................ 58 28 45 27 / 30 60 70 30 Gallup.......................... 52 26 47 25 / 60 70 70 10 El Morro........................ 52 27 40 26 / 50 70 80 5 Grants.......................... 57 27 46 26 / 20 60 60 10 Quemado......................... 54 28 42 26 / 40 80 80 5 Magdalena....................... 60 34 48 31 / 0 60 70 5 Datil........................... 54 30 43 27 / 5 70 70 5 Reserve......................... 56 28 48 24 / 40 90 70 5 Glenwood........................ 61 36 51 33 / 40 90 70 5 Chama........................... 50 25 43 21 / 50 70 80 50 Los Alamos...................... 59 34 44 31 / 10 50 70 40 Pecos........................... 60 31 47 28 / 5 30 70 50 Cerro/Questa.................... 53 33 42 28 / 10 40 80 80 Red River....................... 49 24 40 19 / 10 40 90 80 Angel Fire...................... 49 25 40 19 / 5 30 90 80 Taos............................ 59 28 47 24 / 10 40 70 70 Mora............................ 58 31 46 24 / 5 20 70 60 Espanola........................ 66 35 51 32 / 10 50 60 50 Santa Fe........................ 61 33 46 30 / 10 40 70 50 Santa Fe Airport................ 64 33 50 30 / 5 40 60 40 Albuquerque Foothills........... 67 38 51 37 / 5 50 70 20 Albuquerque Heights............. 68 38 52 36 / 5 40 60 20 Albuquerque Valley.............. 70 37 54 35 / 5 40 60 20 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 69 38 53 36 / 5 40 60 20 Belen........................... 70 38 56 34 / 5 50 70 10 Bernalillo...................... 69 38 53 35 / 5 40 60 20 Bosque Farms.................... 70 37 54 33 / 5 40 70 20 Corrales........................ 70 37 54 35 / 5 40 60 20 Los Lunas....................... 69 37 55 34 / 5 40 70 20 Placitas........................ 65 36 48 35 / 5 50 70 30 Rio Rancho...................... 67 38 52 35 / 5 40 60 20 Socorro......................... 72 40 58 36 / 0 50 70 5 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 59 33 44 31 / 5 50 70 30 Tijeras......................... 62 35 46 32 / 5 50 70 30 Edgewood........................ 63 33 47 30 / 0 30 60 30 Moriarty/Estancia............... 65 31 49 27 / 0 30 60 30 Clines Corners.................. 60 30 46 26 / 0 20 50 30 Mountainair..................... 62 34 46 28 / 0 40 70 20 Gran Quivira.................... 61 33 48 28 / 0 30 70 20 Carrizozo....................... 65 41 52 33 / 0 20 80 10 Ruidoso......................... 59 36 45 28 / 0 20 70 10 Capulin......................... 64 32 48 24 / 0 0 80 70 Raton........................... 66 30 52 26 / 0 0 80 70 Springer........................ 67 33 55 28 / 0 0 70 70 Las Vegas....................... 63 32 49 26 / 0 5 50 60 Clayton......................... 72 40 58 30 / 0 0 80 70 Roy............................. 68 36 55 30 / 0 0 70 70 Conchas......................... 75 42 62 35 / 0 0 50 60 Santa Rosa...................... 70 40 57 34 / 0 0 40 40 Tucumcari....................... 76 43 62 34 / 0 0 50 50 Clovis.......................... 78 47 64 35 / 0 5 40 20 Portales........................ 79 48 67 34 / 0 5 30 20 Fort Sumner..................... 77 44 62 35 / 0 0 40 30 Roswell......................... 82 50 68 40 / 0 5 20 5 Picacho......................... 72 43 58 35 / 0 5 30 5 Elk............................. 69 42 55 32 / 0 5 50 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning from 10 AM this morning to 7 PM MDT this evening for NMZ104-123-125-126. Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ214-215-221-222-224-225-227-230>232-234-239>241. Wind Advisory until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ208. High Wind Warning from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ223-228-229-233. High Wind Warning until 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ226. && SHORT TERM...12 LONG TERM....71 AVIATION...12
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Ziamet station southeast of Vaughn observed a peak wind gust of 65 mph. The station also observed high sustained winds peaking at 46 mph during the time period.
The Clines Corners ASOS observed a peak wind gust of 61 mph.
The Clayton ASOS observed a wind gust of 58 mph.
The Sierra Blanca ASOS observed a peak wind gust of 60 mph. The station also observed high sustained winds peaking at 49 mph during the time period.
The Las Vegas ASOS observed a wind gust of 63 mph.
A wunderground weather station just south of Conchas Lake observed a wind gust of 58 mph.
The Roswell ASOS observed a peak wind gust of 63 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, March 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: 1161034, 1161029, 1161032, 1161030, 1161031, 1161033, 1161035.