Strong Winds in Southern New Mexico

From Mike Hardiman in El Paso regarding the strong winds that impacted much of the state yesterday (Mike asks a good question below concerning the possible roll of the N-S Franklin Mountains in the localized occrrence of very strong winds east of the mountains).

Quite the wind event in the El Paso CWA today (Tuesday, December 8, 2009). Widespread damage in the Sacramento Mountains with 70 mph wind gusts at an APRS mesonet site in High Rolls, NM (elev ~6250) and 55 mph at a WxUnderground site in Cloudcroft, NM (elev 8850). Both were recorded before 9am and were the last obs reported before apparent power outages stopped the data flow. Lots of trees and powerlines down, some falling into homes.


The 12z RAOB from EPZ showed a strong inversion just above the mountaintop level of the Franklin Mountains which bisect the city of El Paso. Wind Gusts on the east (leeward) side of town topped out at 79 mph at an AWS site, which was well supported by 75 and 78 mph gusts at other mesonet stations. Wind blew down the signature canopy at Cohen Stadium (which looks eerily like Denver Int'l Airport), roofs blown off structures, debris breaking car windows, trees down, etc. Also, the Transmountain highway was shut down due to high winds blowing rocks into the road. Lots of residents reported a "tornado" despite just scattered flat Cu at 6000 feet. Interestingly, a plot of all the "mesonet" sites on the East Side shows one site reporting a SE wind much of the morning (everyone else was SW), before turning due West with that 79 mph gust, after which it remained SW. Don't really trust the siting of all these stations (combination of AWS Schoolnet, APRS, WxUnderground, etc), but the one site in question hasn't been noted to have wind direction issues in lighter winds. Can't help but wonder if a rotor or some sort of lee-side eddy wasn't at work here and may have aided in the damaging winds -- the worst damage was sort of clustered in the area of this cock-eyed wind ob.


A notoriously windy site at Aguirre Springs, NM, on the east slopes of the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces has a 97 mph recorded gust which destroyed a well-built hay barn. Widespread wind damage also occurred at White Sands Missle Range Main Base, 'de-roofing' the Police Station there, knocking out powerlines, injuring 2 people, and finally sending workers home early. WSMR's mesonet includes a station at San Augustin Pass (elev ~5700), through which US-70 links WSMR with Las Cruces. Peak Gust 116 mph. Hurricane force winds there are common in WSW high-wind events, but 100+ mph is still quite notable.

See:

http://www.uswx.com/us/stn/KELP/?code=c