Wildfire — East Slopes Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

2022-04-06 to 2022-04-30 · East Slopes Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

On April 6, 2022, a prescribed burn was started 12 miles northwest of Las Vegas, but due to windy conditions in place, the fire soon got out of control and spread rapidly. By April 13th, the Hermits Peak Fire grew to 7,900 acres with 10 percent containment. On April 22nd, the wildfire experienced rapid growth as a historic and catastrophic fire weather pattern developed across New Mexico. Despite 91 percent containment, the wildfire experienced rapid growth and combined with the nearby Calf Canyon Fire. Together, these two wildfires burned over 42,000 acres. As very windy conditions persisted through the remainder of April, the Hermits Peak Fire continued to spread rapidly, and by the end of the month on April 30th, the combined acreage between it and the Calf Canyon Fire was 103,908 acres with now 30 percent containment. Currently, the wildfire may not be fully contained until July 2022. Seven outbuildings were destroyed by this wildfire with an additional 600 structures threatened. Mandatory evacuations were not ordered. Damages are estimated.

Wider weather episode

A closed upper-level low pressure system from the Gulf of Alaska moved inland into the Pacific Northwest and tracked eastward over the northern Rockies on April 5, 2022. As this system tracked to the north of New Mexico, it steered a potent jet overhead which strengthened surface winds. Wind speeds of 45 to 55 mph where common across northern and central New Mexico with a few locations measuring high wind speeds. The highest gusts were measured at Clines Corners which measured a gust of 64 mph along with sustained winds of 47 mph. The windy conditions persisted on April 6, 2022 across northeast New Mexico. Unfortunately, these winds allowed a prescribed burn northwest of Las Vegas to get out of control and spread rapidly.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1012048. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.