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i don't know about the southern part of the state, my guess it isn't nearly as bad, but toward ABQ it is awful..It starts in about April and will blow into the summer (depending on the year) it blows hard, gusts and yes, lots of sand. Of course it is desert and this is to be expected. As much as I hated every minute of it, I loved the weather, overall in NM. Yes, it is bad enough to actually leave dirt...!!!
Nita
I think you are wrong. The spring winds can't be any worse in Albuquerque than they are in southern NM. I remember walking home from school fighting a stiff breeze and a face full of sand. If I was really unfortunate, it was cold, too.
I think you are wrong. The spring winds can't be any worse in Albuquerque than they are in southern NM. I remember walking home from school fighting a stiff breeze and a face full of sand. If I was really unfortunate, it was cold, too.
The southern part of the state is horrible, our running joke is that it must be track season since the winds are starting. Our oldest son ran track in high school and it never failed that once track season rolled around the winds started. We usually get it from Feb to April and since we live in the Basin we get lots of sand, yuck. I agree with you I remember going to track meets in April and freezing, I am from S Texas and in April it is already getting hot and your a/c is on so this was definately an experience for me.
I think you are wrong. The spring winds can't be any worse in Albuquerque than they are in southern NM. I remember walking home from school fighting a stiff breeze and a face full of sand. If I was really unfortunate, it was cold, too.
i don't know about Las Cruses, I was just thinking maybe? I do know that Belen was awful!!!!
I was on Interstate 10 one time and I hit a windstorm near Deming. I was lucky to follow a Roadway Express semi for several hours. All I saw was the back end of the semi, the wind was awful, and a 2 hour drive was about 5 hours. The crosswinds from Vaughn to Roswell on 285 are just as bad.
This is going to be my first spring here so I don't know about that but I can tell you that the winters here do get windy. (I'm in the south central part of the state)
This is going to be my first spring here so I don't know about that but I can tell you that the winters here do get windy. (I'm in the south central part of the state)
This early winter was very windy... then it got calm for several weeks until a few days ago. This past spring was apparently the windiest anyone could remember, but the year before wasn't bad... and I hear that was more normal. It was windy maybe half the days from mid March though April typically 20-30 mph with gusts to 40 or so. We don't get much dust in Ruidoso, but I went to Alamogordo on a windy day and there was a thick "fog" of dust in the air... no problem seeing to drive though.
During the last 2 days, here in T or C the winds of spring have been kicking up, gusts up to 40-45 mph, and of course, sand storms. not hard to get indoors, just be careful your house or car doors don't get away from you, or you'll end up with bent or broken hinges. yes, we have bad hair days a head. tee hee. cruces is about 70 miles south of t or c, and the winds are about the same. the only things that differ between the 2 are sometimes cruces is warmer than T or C, and the gas prices are lower in cruces.
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Originally Posted by pdtypist
I've seen several mentions of March and spring being the "windy" time in NM but not much specific. Is this like daily 20 mph or less with some sand, or more like sand-blasting, paint-peeling winds? It is hard enough to get inside your house and leave dirt, or just a constant "bad hair day" type of wind? I'm thinking of the Las Cruces or possibly Alamorgordo areas.
Unfortunately, the wind climatology of New Mexico is lacking for much of the state. In spite of that, there are a number of ways of looking at wind. Here are a few of them.
1. Average wind speeds: Highest average speeds are in the eastern plains of New Mexico, especially the northeast, where average speeds are around 15 mph during the months of March, April and May. Averages may not mean much to most people, but those high averages also correlate well with locations in which the wind just seems to never cease...and that can be irritating to some people.
2. Number of calm days: These are highest in valleys, especially when cold air gets trapped and pools in the valley. Calm days are quite rare in the Plains. In the weather business, we had a standing joke that when the wind went calm at Clayton, all hell was about to break loose.
3. Extremely windy days...say gusts of 50 mph or more: Mean position of the jet stream would favor northern New Mexico, while less surface friction would favor southern New Mexico. All together, there isn't a lot of difference in the number of days per year from north to south. From March through May, generally, there will be 5-10 days in which gusts reach above 50 mph in New Mexico. The spring winds tend to peak during the mid-late afternoon hours, and on the worst days, gusts will top 70 or even 80 mph in some locations.
4. Severe downslope wind storms: Under the right conditions having to do with sinking air and angles between the air flow at mountain top and the shape of the mountain and orientation of mountain range, severe downslope wind storms develop in New Mexico. They can be quite localized, but not always. In Albuquerque, these come over the Sandia Mountains from the east, and can reach speeds above 70 mph, especially in the foothill region of the city. A gust to 124 mph was measured at the base of the Tram in 1987. It's likely an event in December 1943 peaked at 125-150 mph, but no one was living in the foothills area of the city. If some cowboy happened to be camping there for some reason, he probably had a very miserable time, then spent the rest of his days telling his story to disbelieving people. Outside of Albuquerque, these events can happen anywhere conditions are right, especially adjacent to the downwind side of a mountain. Some happen in remote areas and are localized so that no one knows they have occurred until someone notices hundreds (or more) of trees have been blown down. I recall a case like that north of Las Vegas (near Rociada) about 15 years ago where winds from the west must have certainly peaked above 100 mph, and other cases near Bonito Lake up against the Sacramento Mountains.
Blowing Dust Days: As one would expect, a lot depends on the landscape just upwind from you. In Albuquerque, spring winds can produce very nasty conditions, especially on the West Mesa. On the eastern edge of the city, there is enough covered ground between you and the West Mesa to keep dust to a lower amount, but it can still get nasty as you watch little pieces of New Mexico and Arizona flying by overhead. In general, the greatest number of "blowing dust days" tend to be over southern New Mexico because of the amount of dust and sand that is naturally in that region. Still, blowing dust can be carried aloft for miles and miles between being deposited. I believe it was the spring of 1977 when scientists first tracked a cloud of dust that originated in the Southwest U.S. as it remained recognizable in satellite photos over the Atlantic Ocean (although that kind of thing is rare).
My guess is that...if one were to do a survey, they would find the spring, windy season the least favorite "weather-wise" time of year across New Mexico...which reminds me...February is just around the corner.
I have NEVER lived in an area that is just so fricken windy.
We are told, by the locals, that its not windy... Spring is when its windy. Tell that to my patio furniture thats blown all over my yard. haha
Santa brought a Tampoline with a saftey net for the kids this year... we have it tied down with stakes and lots of rope/chain.
Any other tips for making sure your stuff doesnt just... blow away?
(This wind is FRICKEN NUTZ.. and for the 1st time in my life, I am NOT looking forward to Spring time)
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