High Wind — Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

2024-04-15 · Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

Event narrative

The Roswell Airport observed a peak wind gust of 68 mph. Blowing dust also reduced visibility to one statute mile at the airport.

Wider weather episode

A well organized upper level storm system brought a strong section of the jet stream over NM April 15th and 16th. A combination of mountain wave activity lee of mountain ridges and vertical mixing brought these strong winds to ground level over portions of central and eastern NM. Peak gusts of 50 to 65 mph were common during April 15th, with a peak gust of 68 mph reported at the Roswell Airport. Blowing dust was again reported by the Roswell Airport ASOS reducing visibility to one statute mile. Thankfully, no impacts or damage was reported. The strongest observed gust was 81 mph at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory west of Socorro. Winds subsided during the overnight period before picking up again out of the northwest over parts of the northern mountains and adjacent highlands during the morning of April 16th. Gusts peaked to 58 to 66 mph at isolated spots from Los Alamos to parts of western Guadalupe County. Winds finally tapered off Tuesday afternoon.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1162528. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.