Dust Storm — Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

2024-10-29 · Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Numerous road closures in the Roswell area due to blowing dust reported via NM DOT. Roads impacted from low visibility due to blowing dust included U.S. Highways 70, 285, and 380, NM State Highways 2, 246, 253, 254, 409, and the Roswell Relief Route between West Brasher Road and Sunset Avenue. Peak wind gusts of 60 mph were observed at the Roswell Air Center during this time.

Wider weather episode

Strong upper level winds ahead of a deep upper level trough moved over New Mexico during the day on October 29th. Deep daytime mixing helped bring some of these stronger winds down to the surface with sustained high winds and gusts at several locations across the state. Strong south and southwest winds resulted in blowing dust across Roswell with visibility at the Roswell Air Center briefly dropping down to as low as a quarter of a mile. Bowing dust in Roswell and high winds across the state settled down just after sunset.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1214572. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.