Dust Storm — Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

2024-06-08 · Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

Event narrative

High winds along and behind an outflow boundary from storms west of Roswell resulted in blowing dust across southern Chaves County. Visibility at the Roswell Air Center dropped to a quarter mile at 15:35 MDT due to the blowing dust. The low visibility from the blowing dust resulted in multiple vehicle crashes on the Roswell Relief Route between Sunset and Brasher Road, U.S. Highway 285 from mile marker 99 to 112, and State Road 2 from mile marker 4 to 6 resulting in the closure of the highways. Two vehicle pileups were observed on U.S. Highway 285 west of Dexter and Hagerman, one near the intersection of Ojibwa Road and another near the intersection of Orchard Park Road. Winds tapered off shortly after 17:00 MDT allowing the dust to settle and visibility to improve.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level high pressure continued to drift east towards west Texas. Southerly flow on the western flank of the upper level high helped bring up some mid-level moisture from Mexico. This mid-level moisture combined with deep daytime mixing and strong surface heating resulted in the development of high based showers and storms in the higher terrain midday June 7th. Outflow from this activity allowed more high based showers and storms to develop in the lower elevations across central and eastern New Mexico during the afternoon and evening hours. This resulted in brief high wind gusts at Albuquerque, Clines Corners, Clayton, and the Harry Mesonet in the White Sands Missile Range. High based shower and thunderstorm activity gradually dissipated around sunset thanks to the loss in instability and daytime heating. More high based showers and thunderstorms developed across southern and eastern NM during the afternoon hours of June 8th. The outflow from shower and storm activity west of Roswell produced several high wind gusts at the Roswell Air Center along with blowing dust across southern Chaves County. The blowing dust reduced visibility at the Roswell Air Center to 1/4 mile and shut down U.S. 285 near Midway and the Roswell Relief Route on the southwest side of town due to multiple vehicle accidents. High based showers and storms gradually dissipated around sunset.

Key Words: Thunderstorm Wind Gust, Dust Storm.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1171592. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.