I checked back on the WRF forecasts for winds yesterday afternoon and found that they were very good for a number of runs before the event. So the WRF variants continue to have a good track record forecasting gusty winds from the east - winds that often are overlooked in some forecasts. Above graphic shows the 12 UTC forecast from the WRF-NAM of 10-m winds valid at 1:00 pm MST yesterday. A few selected observations of maximum gusts yesterday afternoon - NWS TUS 30 mph; Saguaro RAWS 33 mph; along Rillito Wash E35 mph; Pioneer Field 36 mph; and Mt. Hopkins RAWS 61 mph.
Mike Leuthold was driving east-bound on I-10 yesterday afternoon and took these photos of large dust plumes blowing off the Wilcox playa around 3:30 pm. Top two are a long-distance perspective of the blowing dust, while two photos below are view from north of the playa dust source.
Finally, I want to note that Mike is now running a 00 UTC version of the WRF models that includes a high-resolution (1.8 km grid) domain that extends eastward across most of New Mexico. Example below is current run's forecast of 10-m winds valid at 11:00 am MST this morning (Friday, January 16th). These are available online at his WRF url.
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