High Wind — South Central Mountains, New Mexico

2025-03-18 · South Central Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

The Sierra Blanca AWOS measured a peak wind gust of 78 mph, as well as a high sustained wind of 60 mph. Peak gusts of 64 and 67 mph were measured elsewhere in the zone. These strong winds blew a roof off a home in Ruidoso.

Wider weather episode

Another unseasonably deep upper trough moved into the western U.S. March 17th strengthening into a closed upper low over Colorado on March 18th. Strong south to southwest winds ahead of the trough resulted in blowing dust across southern Chaves County resulting in the closure of the Roswell Relief route on the southwest side of town during the afternoon of March 17th. High wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph began across the high terrain during the morning hours of March 18th moving down to lower elevations late morning as the Pacific front moved through the state. The subsidence behind the front helped to mix down strong mid and upper-level winds at the base of the newly developed low down to the surface. A strong pressure gradient was also present across the state south of a 990 mb surface low over eastern Colorado. These high wind gusts resulted in downed trees at Corrales in the Albuquerque Metro and in southwest Chaves County and blew a roof off a workshop near San Mateo in the west central mountains. The high winds also resulted in widespread blowing dust and near zero visibility across the Rio Grande Valley and eastern NM. The near zero visibility from the blowing dust resulted in multi-vehicle crashes on I-25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, I-40 in Torrance and Guadalupe County, and on U.S. Highway 285 south of Roswell. U.S. Highway 54 in the Carrizozo area was shut down for several hours due to the near zero visibility from the blowing dust. High winds from a shower induced microburst resulted in some power outages in east central Albuquerque during the mid evening. Winds and blowing dust subsided during the late evening hours across central and southern New Mexico, but continued across far northeast New Mexico behind a backdoor front until the late morning hours of March 19th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1234836. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.