Wildfire — East Slopes Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

2022-04-19 to 2022-04-30 · East Slopes Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

While daily rounds of widespread high fire danger persisted across northern and central New Mexico throughout the month of April, conditions were primed for rapid wildfire growth. The Calf Canyon Fire was sparked on April 19, 2022, near Gallinas Canyon. The wildfire experienced its most rapid growth on April 22nd as a historic and catastrophic fire weather pattern developed across New Mexico. With several hours of widespread 60 to 80 mph wind gusts, the Calf Canyon Fire exploded. This prompted the National Weather Service Albuquerque Office to issue a rare Fire Weather Warning for mandatory evacuations across western San Miguel and Mora counties. By the morning of April 23rd, it was reported that the Calf Canyon Fire had merged with the nearby Hermits Peak Fire, and together, these two fires had burned more than 42,000 acres. A week later, on April 29th, yet another widespread dangerous wind event caused the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires to continue to rapidly spread. This prompted another set of mandatory evacuations across western San Miguel County and the issuance of another rare Fire Weather Warning. By the end of the month of April 30th, the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfires had burned a combined 103,908 acres with 30 percent containment. The Calf Canyon Fire may not be fully contained until July 2022. Up until this point of the fire season, the Calf Canyon Fire has been the most devastating for New Mexico. It is estimated that many homes and structures have been destroyed as citizens come forward with stories about losing everything they have. However, at this time, there is no estimate on how much has been lost as officials have been unable to do official surveys. Damages are estimated.

Wider weather episode

As a surface high pressure developed to the east of New Mexico, it established easterly to southeasterly return flow across eastern New Mexico. However, on April 19th and April 20, 2022, a storm system tracking eastward across the central Rockies strengthened westerly flow aloft which quickly overtook the low-level return flow. This was aided by a lee-side surface low across northeastern New Mexico. With deep atmospheric mixing still in place across all of northern and central New Mexico, these stronger westerly winds mixed down to the surface. Most wind gusts across the area were generally between 40 and 50 mph, but wind gusts of 55 to 65 mph were measured at Clines Corners, Gallup, and Angel Fire. Unfortunately, a persistent critical fire weather pattern helped to spark the Calf Canyon Fire in Gallinas Canyon on the Santa Fe National Forest along U.S. Highway 65 on April 19, 2022.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1012058. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.