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

2019-02-13 · East Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

A public weather station near Rociada reported a peak wind gust up to 72 mph.

Wider weather episode

A powerful jet stream sliding over New Mexico ahead of an approaching storm system from southern California delivered a bout of strong to damaging winds to parts of northeastern New Mexico on February 13-14, 2019. Southwest winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 55 mph developed along the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into the eastern plains on the 13th. Periodic high winds then focused in the area from the Raton airport to Cimarron, Rociada, and Las Vegas during the overnight hours and morning of the 14th. The strongest winds occurred around Raton where a peak wind gust up to 84 mph was reported. High winds slowly tapered off by noon across the entire area. A carport was destroyed in Cimarron, another was blown onto the roof of a home near Las Vegas, and two semi trailers were toppled on Interstate 25.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 797273. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.