High Wind in Southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

A portable RAWS station near Cowles measured a peak wind gust of 59 mph.

A Pacific Northwest storm system that began to approach the west coast on May 28, 2022, continued its track across the central Rockies on May 29th. As it continued to track to the north of New Mexico, it steered its associated jet across the state. With similar conditions of strong southwesterly winds aloft, hot daytime temperatures, and deep mixing, afternoon surface winds had no trouble strengthening. While these winds were generally below high wind criteria, a couple sites, particularly across western New Mexico, did measure wind gusts near 60 mph.