S. moved over New Mexico during the day April 26th.
Every event with a place to put it; 12 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 mid and upper level jet at the base of a disturbance over the western U.S. moved over New Mexico during the day April 26th. Deep daytime mixing tapped into these stronger winds aloft by mid morning resulting in strong to high wind gusts across much of central and eastern New Mexico. Very dry antecedent conditions resulted in areas of blowing dust and reduced visibility across central and southern NM. Some showers were observed across northwest and north central New Mexico with one of these showers resulting in a brief 59 mph wind gust at Gallup Municipal Airport. Winds tapered off during the late evening and overnight hours as stronger winds aloft slowly exited east of the state.
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 26, 10:35 AM MST, 40 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1135 AM MDT Sun Apr 26 2026 ...New AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 1128 AM MDT Sun Apr 26 2026 - Critical fire weather conditions and a risk of rapid fire spread will continue to plague eastern areas today through Tuesday, and portions of central and western New Mexico as well on today. - Very strong southwest winds will produce hazardous crosswinds and areas of significant blowing dust across northern and central New Mexico today, and potentially do some damage along portions of the central mountain chain and eastern plains where gusts will reach around 60 mph. - Showers and thunderstorms today from the northern mountains westward, and over west central areas, will be capable of producing erratic wind gusts with hazardous crosswinds, blowing dust, and cloud-to-ground lightning. Isolated dry lightning strikes are also forecast over parts of northeast New Mexico this afternoon. - Cooler and wetter weather are forecast during the latter half of the week as a strong storm system crosses the state with wet roads at lower elevations, slick roads due to snow over mountain passes, and periods of cloud-to-ground lightning. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Tuesday) Issued at 151 AM MDT Sun Apr 26 2026 An upper level trough will sweep northeastward across the Four Corners and CO today steering a strong jet streak over southern and eastern parts of the forecast area with 700-500 mb wind speeds varying between 40-70 KT. There will also be a potent lee trough south of a ~991 mb surface low in southeast CO. With high temperatures a few to around 10 degrees above 1991-2020 averages this afternoon, central and eastern areas should mix between 13,000-16000 feet enabling thermals to tap into that strong momentum aloft. As a result, southwest surface winds today should commonly peak between 45-55 mph, except for gusts around 60 mph along and east of the Sandia Mountains, and from Las Vegas southward to Ruidoso and Dunken. With this forecast package we expanded the High Wind Warning to include the central mountains, Estancia Valley, eastern San Miguel County, and Quay County. The surface low in southeast CO is forecast to eject eastward across KS tonight, while the jet core lingers over NM enabling windy conditions to continue over mountain peaks and across the eastern plains. Wind gusts on peaks of the central mountain chain will probably continue to reach around 50 mph this evening, and up to 45 mph on the eastern plains, with gradually weakening wind speeds after midnight. In addition, the upper trough will also continue to spread showers, thunderstorms, and very high terrain snow showers from the northern mountains westward today and tonight. Most locations will only receive a few hundredths of an inch of additional rainfall, except up to about 0.20" near the CO border. A dusting to around an inch of total snow (Saturday night through Sunday night) is forecast above 9000' in the northern mountains, except up to 4 inches in the Tusas Mountains above Chama. On the edges of the precipitation area, showers will be lighter and gustier with little more than gusty sprinkles from Gallup to Santa Fe and Glorieta, from Las Vegas to Raton, and from Raton to Clayton. Instability also looks sufficient for isolated dry lightning strikes with virga showers from Las Vegas to Raton, and from Raton to Clayton. The strong winds, very low humidity, and spotty dry storms will create critical and extremely critical fire weather conditions along and south of I-40, and also along and east of I-25, from 11 AM to 8 PM today. Fire weather concerns will then continue east of the central mountain chain on Monday, and along and east of the central mountain chain on Tuesday, as an active storm track over the central Rockies keeps the flow aloft brisk over NM with persistent lee-side troughing at the surface. Peak gusts along and east of the central mountain chain Monday and Tuesday look to reach 45 mph, while gusts farther west reach 30-40 mph with the strongest winds on Monday. Over north central and western areas, high temperatures will fall today as much as 8 degrees below Saturday's readings, while climbing a few to 6 degrees central and east. Highs should then begin to rebound over western areas Monday, while tumbling as much as 6 degrees in the east. Readings should then climb a few to 5 degrees across the forecast area on Tuesday. && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday night through Saturday) Issued at 151 AM MDT Sun Apr 26 2026 The middle to latter half of the week will feature cooler weather and a chance for widespread and wetting rain showers, thunderstorms, and mountain snow as a potentially strong low pressure system plows eastward across NM. The storm system is forecast to draw a gusty backdoor cold front into the state Wednesday night and Thursday, which will increase low level moisture and begin to trigger showers and storms across the east. Meanwhile, showers and storms will begin moving over western areas from the west Wednesday night as well. Models agree fairly well that there will be widespread wetting precipitation as the upper low crosses slowly Thursday through Friday. Then, they depict a second disturbance dropping southeastward over the state with some lighter precip Friday night and to a lesser extent Saturday. High temperatures should bottom out Friday a few to around 19 degrees below 1991-2020 averages. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1128 AM MDT Sun Apr 26 2026 Strong west-southwest winds and areas of blowing dust will plague the area this afternoon and early evening, with gusts up to 55-65mph favoring eastern NM. MVFR conditions are likely at KROW in blowing dust this afternoon, with low probability of IFR conditions. Low probabilities exist for VFR cigs to dip into the MVFR category overnight at KFMN and KGUP, but forecast confidence is too low to include in TAFs at this time. An Airport Weather Warning is in effect at KABQ this afternoon and evening for gusts up to 42kts. Gusts across western and north central NM may be enhanced by shower activity this afternoon. Otherwise, winds will slowly diminish overnight. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 151 AM MDT Sun Apr 26 2026 Critical fire weather conditions will continue to plague eastern areas today through Tuesday as an active storm track keeps the flow aloft strong over NM, and a lee-side surface trough persists. Critical conditions will spread westward to include the central mountain chain as well today and Tuesday, and the middle Rio Grande Valley and west central zones today. After peak wind gusts around 50-60 mph today, peak wind gusts on Monday and Tuesday should reach around 45 mph from the central mountain chain eastward. In between storm systems on Wednesday wind speeds will weaken, while remaining seasonably gusty. Locally critical fire weather conditions should still return to the Northeast Highlands Wednesday afternoon. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 65 39 65 36 / 60 20 5 0 Dulce........................... 59 32 60 29 / 70 40 30 0 Cuba............................ 64 33 62 30 / 50 5 10 0 Gallup.......................... 61 30 64 27 / 20 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 59 32 63 31 / 10 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 66 31 67 30 / 10 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 64 32 67 32 / 5 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 69 38 70 39 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 62 33 65 34 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 67 30 69 32 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 72 35 73 36 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 52 30 53 26 / 70 50 30 0 Los Alamos...................... 65 39 63 40 / 40 5 10 0 Pecos........................... 67 34 63 34 / 20 0 5 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 59 34 59 32 / 40 20 10 0 Red River....................... 49 29 50 28 / 40 20 20 0 Angel Fire...................... 57 27 55 23 / 40 20 10 0 Taos............................ 63 33 62 29 / 40 10 10 0 Mora............................ 65 34 63 33 / 30 5 5 0 Espanola........................ 72 39 70 37 / 40 5 5 0 Santa Fe........................ 67 36 64 36 / 20 5 5 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 70 37 67 35 / 20 0 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 74 44 70 44 / 10 0 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 76 43 72 43 / 10 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 78 41 75 41 / 5 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 76 43 72 42 / 10 0 0 0 Belen........................... 78 39 77 39 / 5 0 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 77 42 73 41 / 10 0 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 78 39 75 38 / 5 0 0 0 Corrales........................ 77 42 73 41 / 10 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 77 39 76 38 / 5 0 0 0 Placitas........................ 72 43 69 42 / 10 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 76 43 72 42 / 10 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 80 44 79 44 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 68 39 65 40 / 10 0 0 0 Tijeras......................... 70 40 67 40 / 10 0 0 0 Edgewood........................ 72 38 68 37 / 10 0 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 73 32 69 30 / 5 0 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 70 35 65 36 / 5 0 0 0 Mountainair..................... 72 38 69 38 / 5 0 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 71 38 69 39 / 0 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 75 45 72 48 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 69 43 65 46 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 67 35 66 32 / 10 0 10 5 Raton........................... 70 35 70 32 / 10 0 5 0 Springer........................ 72 38 72 34 / 10 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 70 36 66 36 / 10 0 0 0 Clayton......................... 78 43 74 37 / 5 0 5 5 Roy............................. 73 41 73 38 / 10 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 83 48 80 43 / 5 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 79 46 75 43 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 86 49 82 45 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 88 49 80 47 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 88 50 81 46 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 85 48 80 45 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 90 52 86 49 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 81 47 78 47 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 79 45 75 46 / 0 0 0 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ104>106-109-123>126. High Wind Warning from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ221>224-226-229-232>234-239-240. Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ205>208-212>215-219-220-225-227-228-230-231-235>238-241. Fire Weather Watch from Monday afternoon through Monday evening for NMZ104-123-125-126. && SHORT TERM...44 LONG TERM....44 AVIATION...11
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
12 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The AWOS at Sierra Blanca Regional Airport measured high wind gusts up to 63 mph.
The RAWS at Dunken measured high wind gusts up to 67 mph.
A mesonet station at Little Burro on White Sands Missile Range measured high wind gusts up to 76 mph.
The AWOS at Moriarty Municipal Airport measured a brief high wind gust of 58 mph.
A mesonet station at Zumwalt Track on White Sands Missile Range measured a brief high wind gust of 60 mph. Additionally, mesonet stations at Stallion Runway and Sulf on White Sands Missile Range measured a brief high wind gust of 58 mph.
The AWOS at Cannon Air Force Base measured a brief high wind gust of 58 mph.
The ASOS at Clines Corners measured high wind gusts up to 69 mph along with high sustained winds up to 43 mph. An NMDOT mesonet station in the same area measured high wind gusts up to 62 mph along with high sustained winds up to 46 mph.
The ASOS at Santa Fe Municipal Airport measured high wind gusts peaking at 61 mph.
The ASOS at Tucumcari Regional Airport measured a brief high wind gust of 62 mph.
The ASOS at Las Vegas Regional Airport measured high wind gusts up to 63 mph.
The ASOS at the Albuquerque Internation Sunport measured a brief high wind gust of 62 mph.
The West Texas Mesonet station near Dora measured high wind gusts up to 64 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, April 2026
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: 1321459, 1321464, 1321457, 1321386, 1321380, 1321462, 1321456, 1321375, 1321461, 1321460, 1321376, 1321463.