A shortwave trough moved east across the northern Rockies during the day. Strong mid and upper level winds over eastern New Mexico at the base of this trough along with deep daytime mixing resulted in brief high wind gusts at Bartley, Clines Corners, and the Tucumcari Airport.
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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 shortwave trough moved east across the northern Rockies during the day. Strong mid and upper level winds over eastern New Mexico at the base of this trough along with deep daytime mixing resulted in brief high wind gusts at Bartley, Clines Corners, and the Tucumcari Airport. Winds tapered off during the mid evening hours as the disturbance exited east into the central United States.
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 5, 5:11 AM MST, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 511 AM MST Mon Jan 5 2026 ...New AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 444 AM MST Mon Jan 5 2026 - There is a risk of rapid fire spread today in Quay, Curry, and northern Roosevelt Counties due to strong winds, low humidity, and dry vegetation. - Strong crosswinds up to 50-55 mph will impact north-to-south oriented roads across the central highlands and east central plains late this morning through the afternoon. - Notably colder, windy, and unsettled conditions are forecast during mid-to-late week with lowering snow levels. Confidence is increasing (40-60%) in the development of accumulating snow and winter driving conditions across Western and Central parts of the forecast area Wednesday night through Friday morning, and northeast parts Thursday night through Friday. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Tuesday) Issued at 125 AM MST Mon Jan 5 2026 A disturbance passing eastward over CO will strengthen the flow aloft today, while a broad trough in the lee of the southern Rockies enhances the pressure gradient over east central NM. The result will be strong west winds, which have probably already started on the high peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. By late morning, wind gusts near 50 mph are expected over the central highlands with gusts peaking from 30-45 mph across much of the remainder of east central and northeast NM. With this forecast package we will continue the Wind Advisory for the Clines Corners area. We will also join WFO Amarillo in issuing a Red Flag Warning for our east central plains, where humidities as low as 13 percent, temperatures as much as 22 degrees above average, and very dry fuels will add to fire weather concerns; particularly in Quay, Curry, and northern Roosevelt Counties. The disturbance will probably also produce scattered to isolated and light, rain and mountain snow showers today along the CO border from Chama westward. On Tuesday, a low pressure system deepening off the upper Baja Peninsula coast will induce weak ridging over the forecast area with lighter winds and dry weather. In the wake of a weak Pacific front that crosses today, temperatures will trend cooler in many locations. The cooling will be aided by high clouds that will begin spreading over the forecast area from the storm system off the Baja coast. Despite generally cooler readings, high temperatures will still reach around 4-14 degrees above 1991-2020 averages. && .LONG TERM... (Tuesday night through Sunday) Issued at 125 AM MST Mon Jan 5 2026 Models have flip flopped back to colder and wetter solutions for the back to back weather systems forecast to impact NM late Wednesday through Friday morning. There are still some subtle model differences on timing, but the low pressure system off the upper Baja coast is forecast to eject eastward across NM's southern border late Wednesday through Wednesday night. It will spread scattered rain and snow showers to most of the forecast area, except for locations east of the Sangre de Cristo mountains where it will remain dry. Precip will be light and remain as rain east of the central mountain chain. However, the snow level will fall near valley bottoms west of the central mountain chain Wednesday night resulting in a mix of rain and snow. Precip and liquid equivalent amounts central and west should mostly vary from 0.01-0.15", but the Four Corners may remain dry, while the southern tier of mountains accumulate up to a 0.25". There will probably also be an inch or two of snow above 9,000' Wednesday night mainly across the southwest and south central mountains. The next upper level trough will dive southeastward across the forecast area with additional rain and snow pretty much areawide Thursday and Thursday night, then it looks increasingly likely that showers will linger into Friday from the northern mountains eastward as the system gradually exits eastward. The snow level will lift near 7500 feet Thursday, then lower to valley bottoms again with a strong Pacific cold front Thursday night. The heaviest precipitation will be along and west of the central mountain chain, where another 0.20" of rain and liquid equivalent precip is forecast; except up to 0.45" in the mountains. Only spotty wetting precip is expected east of the central mountain chain, except potentially across northeast NM where amounts could be greater if a closed upper level low pressure system can form over the northern mountains as forecast by the operational run of the ECMWF; which is currently backed by the ensemble cluster with greatest model agreement. Under this increasingly likely scenario, the upper low would draw a moist backdoor cold front into northeast NM as the upper low slowly passes eastward over northeast NM on Friday. The latest NBM now has a 20-40% chance of over 2 inches of snow in Colfax and most of Union Counties mostly occurring late Thursday night through Friday morning, with lighter snow potentially lingering into Friday afternoon. Snow amounts elsewhere Wednesday night through Friday morning look to reach a few to several inches in the mountains, and up to an inch or so at lower elevations along and west of the continental divide. Breezy to windy conditions are also forecast across the mountains, and especially across east central and southeast areas on Thursday. Gusts could reach 50 mph along the east slopes of the south central mountains Wednesday night and Thursday as the upper trough approaching from the northwest steers a southwesterly jet stream over southeast NM. Friday's backdoor cold front has the potential to produce northeast wind gusts up to 40 mph on the eastern plains, while northwest winds gust up to 40 mph from Farmington to Clines Corners. Temperature-wise, highs are forecast to bottom out on Friday a few to around 11 degrees below 30-year averages, then trend warmer over the weekend as a Rex block pattern develops over the western US. && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 444 AM MST Mon Jan 5 2026 A disturbance crossing CO will produce scattered to isolated rain and mountain snow showers near the CO border from the Tusas Mountains westward today. Patchy MVFR conditions will continue around Gallup and Zuni until mid-to-late morning, as well. Strong west winds will impact the central mountain chain and east central areas from late morning until sunset. The strongest gusts may reach 40 KT at Santa Rosa and Tucumcari. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 125 AM MST Mon Jan 5 2026 Model humidities fell quite a bit for today over northeast and far east central area NM, where minimums are now expected to vary from 10-16 percent. As mentioned previously, the wind speed forecast has also increased. Around 2-5 hours of critical fire weather conditions are now expected from midday through the afternoon in Quay, Curry, and northern Roosevelt Counties, where ERC's are forecast to vary from the 65th to 85th percentiles as temperatures climb up to 22 degrees above average. Similarly qualified but locally critical fire weather conditions are forecast from Conchas to Las Vegas this afternoon. Humidities will then remain above 15 percent for the remainder of the week, except for localized minimums around 14 percent over far northeast areas Tuesday and Wednesday. Humidities should vary around 25-40 percent over east central areas during the potential wind event on Thursday, but high temperatures as much as 10 degrees above average are forecast to linger then. Vent rates will improve across all but the middle Rio Grande Valley and from Chama to Farmington today. Poor ventilation will increase in coverage Tuesday and Wednesday, then there should be some improvement with the stronger winds Thursday and Friday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 51 28 50 27 / 10 0 0 0 Dulce........................... 47 19 49 19 / 40 5 0 0 Cuba............................ 48 23 49 25 / 5 0 0 0 Gallup.......................... 48 18 50 20 / 0 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 46 24 49 27 / 0 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 52 18 53 21 / 0 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 51 22 52 25 / 0 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 55 31 54 33 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 51 25 52 28 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 58 20 59 24 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 61 24 63 27 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 40 20 42 19 / 20 5 0 0 Los Alamos...................... 47 28 47 29 / 0 0 0 0 Pecos........................... 50 27 53 28 / 0 0 0 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 46 24 47 27 / 0 0 0 0 Red River....................... 38 21 39 23 / 0 0 0 0 Angel Fire...................... 43 15 45 18 / 0 0 0 0 Taos............................ 50 20 50 20 / 0 0 0 0 Mora............................ 53 25 54 28 / 0 0 0 0 Espanola........................ 55 22 54 23 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 49 30 49 30 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 52 27 50 26 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 53 35 52 35 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 56 31 54 32 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 58 28 56 30 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 56 30 54 32 / 0 0 0 0 Belen........................... 58 24 55 25 / 0 0 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 57 30 55 30 / 0 0 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 58 24 55 25 / 0 0 0 0 Corrales........................ 58 29 56 30 / 0 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 58 25 55 27 / 0 0 0 0 Placitas........................ 53 33 51 33 / 0 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 56 30 55 31 / 0 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 61 30 58 32 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 48 29 49 30 / 0 0 0 0 Tijeras......................... 50 30 50 31 / 0 0 0 0 Edgewood........................ 51 27 52 28 / 0 0 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 54 21 54 22 / 0 0 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 51 27 50 28 / 0 0 0 0 Mountainair..................... 53 27 52 30 / 0 0 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 54 28 54 30 / 0 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 59 32 58 35 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 56 34 55 37 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 57 24 54 27 / 0 0 0 0 Raton........................... 59 21 56 24 / 0 0 0 0 Springer........................ 60 21 59 23 / 0 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 58 25 57 28 / 0 0 0 0 Clayton......................... 67 33 60 36 / 0 0 0 0 Roy............................. 64 27 58 30 / 0 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 70 28 64 32 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 62 33 62 36 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 73 32 66 36 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 69 36 66 36 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 71 35 66 35 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 69 33 65 33 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 72 34 67 33 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 70 35 66 36 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 68 31 67 34 / 0 0 0 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Wind Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 5 PM MST this afternoon for NMZ223. Red Flag Warning from 11 AM this morning to 5 PM MST this afternoon for NMZ126. && SHORT TERM...44 LONG TERM....44 AVIATION...44
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Bartley RAWS measured a brief high wind gust of 58 mph.
The Clines Corners ASOS measured a brief high wind gust of 58 mph.
The Tucumcari Municipal Airport ASOS measured a brief high wind gust of 58 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, January 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: 1299165, 1299121, 1299122.