High Wind — East Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

2016-12-11 · East Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Spotter estimated peak winds near 70 mph around 100 am at Pine Ridge store near Ute Park. Winds were strong much of the night.

Wider weather episode

A powerful jet stream aloft combined with a surface low over eastern New Mexico to produce strong downslope winds along east slopes of the central mountain chain. Winds started to increase during the overnight hours and became strong during the period between midnight and noon on the 11th. The strongest recorded wind gust was 70 mph near Ute Park. Numerous trees were also reported blown over around Alto near the Little Bear burn scar. These strong winds stretched into eastern Lincoln County as well where wind gusts topped out around 60 mph.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 662385. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.