An upper trough was moving into the Great Basin with west-southwest flow over the Borderland. An 80 knot jet was also located along the International Border aiding in developing strong winds up to 86 mph.
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 EPZ wrote it up.
An upper trough was moving into the Great Basin with west-southwest flow over the Borderland. An 80 knot jet was also located along the International Border aiding in developing strong winds up to 86 mph.
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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 13, 4:13 AM MST, 8 hours 47 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service El Paso TX/Santa Teresa NM
513 AM MDT Tue May 13 2025
...New KEY MESSAGES, DISCUSSION, AVIATION, FIRE WEATHER...
.KEY MESSAGES...
- A slow moving Pacific storm system will bring strong winds from
the west and southwest today and Wednesday, with widespread
blowing dust expected in the afternoon. Temperatures will also
run several degrees above normal.
- Strong winds and low humidity will also lead to critical fire
weather conditions across a wide area.
- Breezy conditions and near normal temperatures will round out
the workweek.
- Windy and dry conditions look to return this weekend.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 430 AM MDT Tue May 13 2025
Gusty winds have let up slightly along the east slopes of the
Franklin and Organ mountains, but are still gusting 25 to 30 knots
at ELP. RAP13 had suggested the low level wind maximum would
diminish in intensity after 09Z, so the downward trend is more or
less on time.
Meanwhile, water vapor imagery shows our deep trough over the
Great Basin. This system will slowly crawl eastward today, with
the trough axis only reaching Utah by tomorrow morning. Weaker
shortwave troughs embedded in intensifying southwest flow aloft
will roll through the area today, while westerly flow over the
Rockies and strong upper level divergence at jet-stream level
helps induce lee surface low development. The surface low looks to
establish itself over northeastern Colorado late today, a little
further north than you'd like to see for a truly ripe high wind
event. This will also lead to a pressure gradient orientation that
favors a more West to WSW wind direction (260 to 250 deg), which
has implications for blowing dust distribution -- likely keeping
the dust from the Casas Grandes Valley and northern Chihuahua
south of the border until it reaches El Paso. Expect the usual
dust hot spots south of Deming to also be quite active today.
Wind headlines are mostly unchanged... winds/gusts will be below
advisory criteria for most of west El Paso and southern Dona Ana
Counties, but enhanced along the east slopes of the Franklins, and
picking up again across the Huecos and the Otero Mesa.
Winds aloft have actually trended upwards slightly on Wednesday,
though mixing heights look to be slightly shallower. The end
result is Wednesday will be a near repeat of today in terms of
wind speeds, so High Wind Watches and Wind Advisories have been
issued. (Currently dealing with a software issue that may affect
their display on some web platforms, but the old fashioned NPW
text product is out there). Held off on the Dust Advisory for
tomorrow only to see how things shake out today, and perhaps we
can be a little more precise with the areal coverage for
Wednesday.
Long wave troughing will persist over the northern and central
Rockies heading into Thursday, with a low-amplitude secondary
trough keeping weak lee troughing over the Plains. Thursday
afternoon will be somewhat breezy but probably not strong enough
for much dust.
A lonely, moisture-starved shortwave trough nearly cutoff from
the flow over northern Baja Thursday will eject over the area
Friday night with little to no fanfare.
Another deep trough looks to dig into the Great Basin Saturday
into Sunday with increasing winds and likely dust again, with the
worst of it likely aiming for Sunday and Monday.
&&
.AVIATION...
(12Z TAFS)
Issued at 430 AM MDT Tue May 13 2025
Downslope winds have just started to diminish at ELP, and will
stay on the downtrend through sunrise. Winds will increase again
late this morning and this afternoon, with 20 to 25 knot sustained
wind and gusts 40 to 45 knots expected at the peak of the wind
event after 20Z. Wind direction from ~260 degrees should place ELP
on the northern edge of the denser dust coming in from northern
Chihuahua, but the worst conditions might stay just barely south
of the airport. Elsewhere, expect widespread blowing dust with
visibility restrictions, but the westerly wind direction should
mitigate impacts at DMN and LRU.
Winds will be slow to let up at ELP overnight as the boundary
layer looks to stay well-mixed. The current AWW is set to expire
at local midnight tonight/Wed morning, but criteria winds could
last about 2-3 hours longer.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 430 AM MDT Tue May 13 2025
...LONG DURATION OF CRITICAL TO EXTREME FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
EXPECTED AREA-WIDE TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...
An upper level storm system over the Great Basin will bring
strong west to west-southwest winds to the area today and again
on Wednesday as the system moves very slowly across the central
Rockies. Expect winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts 40 to 50 mph by
this afternoon, and gusts up to 60 mph in favored downslope areas
and exposed ridgelines in the Sacramento Mountains and across the
Gila region. Minimum RH values will range from 8 to 13 percent
across the lowlands today, but rising above 20 percent above 7500
feet thanks to lingering effects from recent precipitation and
fair RH recovery overnight. We'll erode those RH values slightly
heading into Wednesday. We'll need to keep an eye on higher
elevation areas that manage to keep gusty winds going through the
night, as that will negatively impact RH recovery.
The system will finally exit into the Plains on Thursday, but
near-critical conditions may linger over parts of the area as
breezy conditions continue and a weak secondary trough
approaches.
Friday and Saturday look to give us a break from Critical fire
weather, but we get right back into it Sunday and perhaps Monday
as yet another deep Pacific trough drops into the Great Basin.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
El Paso 95 69 91 64 / 0 0 0 0
Sierra Blanca 90 63 88 61 / 0 0 0 0
Las Cruces 90 58 85 51 / 0 0 0 0
Alamogordo 91 61 84 53 / 0 0 0 0
Cloudcroft 66 47 61 40 / 0 0 0 0
Truth or Consequences 88 59 82 50 / 0 0 0 0
Silver City 81 51 73 42 / 0 0 0 0
Deming 92 56 86 48 / 0 0 0 0
Lordsburg 89 55 81 45 / 0 0 0 0
West El Paso Metro 92 69 87 63 / 0 0 0 0
Dell City 93 64 90 62 / 0 0 0 0
Fort Hancock 98 67 94 66 / 0 0 0 0
Loma Linda 86 63 82 59 / 0 0 0 0
Fabens 95 67 92 64 / 0 0 0 0
Santa Teresa 92 64 87 57 / 0 0 0 0
White Sands HQ 91 67 87 61 / 0 0 0 0
Jornada Range 90 59 84 51 / 0 0 0 0
Hatch 92 59 87 50 / 0 0 0 0
Columbus 93 63 87 54 / 0 0 0 0
Orogrande 89 62 85 56 / 0 0 0 0
Mayhill 79 54 74 46 / 0 0 0 0
Mescalero 77 51 71 43 / 0 0 0 0
Timberon 76 48 71 42 / 0 0 0 0
Winston 79 47 72 35 / 0 0 0 0
Hillsboro 86 56 80 45 / 0 0 0 0
Spaceport 89 55 82 45 / 0 0 0 0
Lake Roberts 80 46 73 37 / 0 0 0 0
Hurley 84 49 77 41 / 0 0 0 0
Cliff 86 51 79 41 / 0 0 0 0
Mule Creek 81 48 74 40 / 0 0 0 0
Faywood 84 54 77 45 / 0 0 0 0
Animas 90 58 84 46 / 0 0 0 0
Hachita 89 58 83 47 / 0 0 0 0
Antelope Wells 88 59 83 49 / 0 0 0 0
Cloverdale 83 57 76 48 / 0 0 0 0
&&
.EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 9 PM MDT this
evening for Texas Fire Weather Zone 055 El Paso County-
Texas Fire Weather Zone 056 Hudspeth County.
Red Flag Warning from 11 AM to 9 PM MDT Wednesday for Texas Fire
Weather Zone 055 El Paso County- Texas Fire Weather Zone
056 Hudspeth County.
Wind Advisory from noon today to 8 PM MDT this evening for
Eastern/Central El Paso County-Northern Hudspeth
Highlands/Hueco Mountains-Salt Basin-Southern Hudspeth
Highlands.
Blowing Dust Advisory from 1 PM this afternoon to 8 PM MDT this
evening for Eastern/Central El Paso County-Northern
Hudspeth Highlands/Hueco Mountains-Rio Grande Valley of
Eastern El Paso/Western Hudspeth Counties-Rio Grande Valley
of Eastern Hudspeth County-Salt Basin-Southern Hudspeth
Highlands-Western El Paso County.
NM...Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 9 PM MDT this
evening for Capitan and Sacramento Mountains/Lincoln NF/LNZ-
South Central Lowlands and Southern Rio Grande
Valley/BLM/GLZ- Southwest Deserts and Lowlands/Las Cruces
BLM/GLZ- Southwest Mountains/Gila NF/Apache NF/GLZ.
Red Flag Warning from 11 AM to 9 PM MDT Wednesday for Capitan
and Sacramento Mountains/Lincoln NF/LNZ- South Central
Lowlands and Southern Rio Grande Valley/BLM/GLZ- Southwest
Deserts and Lowlands/Las Cruces BLM/GLZ- Southwest
Mountains/Gila NF/Apache NF/GLZ.
High Wind Warning from noon today to 8 PM MDT this evening for
East Slopes Sacramento Mountains Below 7500 Feet-Sacramento
Mountains Above 7500 Feet-Southern Gila Region
Highlands/Black Range-West Slopes Sacramento Mountains
Below 7500 Feet.
Wind Advisory from noon today to 8 PM MDT this evening for
Eastern Black Range Foothills-Lowlands of the Bootheel-
Otero Mesa-Sierra County Lakes-Southern Gila
Foothills/Mimbres Valley-Southwest Desert/Lower Gila River
Valley-Southwest Desert/Mimbres Basin-Uplands of the
Bootheel-West Central Tularosa Basin/White Sands.
Blowing Dust Advisory from 1 PM this afternoon to 8 PM MDT this
evening for East Central Tularosa Basin/Alamogordo-Lowlands
of the Bootheel-Northern Dona Ana County-Otero Mesa-
Southeast Tularosa Basin-Southern Dona Ana County/Mesilla
Valley-Southwest Desert/Lower Gila River Valley-Southwest
Desert/Mimbres Basin-West Central Tularosa Basin/White
Sands.
&&
FORECASTER...25-HardimanThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Truth or Consequences ASOS reported a peak gust of 67 mph. The Salinas Peak Mesonet site recorded a peak gust of 65 mph.
The Malone Mesonet site recorded a peak gust of 60 mph. The Alamogordo AWOS and the Holloman AFB AWOS both recorded gusts of 58 mph.
The peak gust at the San Augustin Pass Mesonet site was 86 mph. Other peak gusts included 70 mph at Delta Clipper, 67 mph at the White Sands Main Post and 65 mph at the Globe site at the White Sands Missile Range.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, May 2025
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: 1265839, 1265838, 1265837.