High Wind — Northern Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

2024-05-05 to 2024-05-06 · Northern Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

The public weather station at Kachina Peak in Taos Ski Valley measured a peak wind gust of 76 mph during a Pacific cold front passage.

Wider weather episode

Southerly winds increased across western and northern NM during the afternoon and evening hours of May 5th ahead of an unseasonably strong upper low moving into the Great Basin. During the overnight hours, winds turned westerly as a Pacific cold front raced east across the state. A few sites across northern New Mexico ended up reporting high wind gusts. After a brief lull during the mid to late morning hours of May 6th, deep daytime mixing and strong upper level winds at the base of the upper low over the central Rockies resulted in more high wind gusts during the afternoon hours across the northeast and central highlands and northeast plains. Winds tapered off after sunset, but remained elevated across the northern mountains during the overnight hours.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1166319. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.