High Wind — Curry County, New Mexico

2023-02-26 to 2023-02-27 · Curry County, New Mexico

Event narrative

The emergency manager reported wind damages that includes the Curry County Fairgrounds, incurring 2 million dollars of damage. Retractable awning, swamp cooler, rain gutters, portable ticket booths, 40ft rolling chain link gate to the parking lot. Roof damage to the Roy Walker Recreation Center. The city of Clovis incurred about 1 million dollars of damage to the roof of a gym and several smaller facilities.

Wider weather episode

The second winter storm to bring widespread high wind damages and a snow squall to northern and central NM within the span of a week arrived on February 26, 2023. Incredibly strong winds impacted near all areas of the state with the exception of the northwestern quarter of New Mexico. Peak gusts of 60 to 70 mph were common, with the strongest gusts reaching 80 to 95 mph recorded near Magdalena, the Estancia Valley, Tucumcari, Roswell, and Clovis. Wind damage in the form of downed trees and power polls were reported in Albuquerque, Clovis, Roswell, and Hagerman. High winds continued overnight into the morning of February 27, 2023 for an isolated area in western Guadalupe County. Meanwhile, winter weather impacted parts of western and central NM in the form of a snow squall that brought a brief period of strong gusty winds and near zero visibility from blowing snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1073674. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.