High Wind — South Central Highlands, New Mexico

2024-09-05 · South Central Highlands, New Mexico

Event narrative

High wind gusts peaking at 77 mph and 61 mph were observed at the Little Burro and Tower 6 mesonet sites, respectively, on the White Sands Missile Range.

Wider weather episode

A shortwave trough moved south from Colorado over New Mexico on September 5th. This combined with upslope surface flow from a backdoor front resulted in the development of showers and storms over the northern mountains moving south and east across lower elevations during the afternoon and evening hours. These showers and storms resulted in some flash flooding over the HPCC burn scar and at Bandelier National Monument along with some large hail and severe thunderstorm wind gusts north of Albuquerque, the East Mountain Communities, and across the White Sands Missile Range. Strong east canyon wind gusts were observed across the Albuquerque Metro and across the White Sands Missile Range in the south central highlands during the evening hours as storm outflow combined with the backdoor front moved through. Showers and storms gradually dissipated across south central New Mexico after sunset.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1200547. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.