Amount of wind in NM in spring (Albuquerque, Las Cruces: house, high school)

[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.

pdtypist

[ajzjmsmom]

I live in Alamo and we have pretty strong winds in the spring, depends on the day as to how hard it blows. We can have winds up to 30 mph with wind gusts up to 50 or higher.

[pdtypist]

Thanks. That does sound a bit windy. How long does this last usually?

[GregW]

I have heard of terrible wind storms creating impossible driving conditions. Need info from the natives.

[TKO]

You're looking at about two months where it sucks to go outside. I seem to rail on it every year and it does blow (pun intended) but all in all I am happy to put up with it because the rest of the year is so nice! Winds will typically get to 30 plus every afternoon. They die at night and don't really get started till afternoon. Dirt is in the air probably half those 60 days.

Greg, if you drive through any of the "playa" areas, such as between Deming and Lordsburg or Lordsburg and the AZ border, they can be really frightening. Dust so thick you can't see more than 10 feet. Of course there are signs all over the interstate in those areas urging people to be careful. Every year it seems someone winds up dead or hurt in wrecks because of them it seems.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by GregW

I have heard of terrible wind storms creating impossible driving conditions. Need info from the natives.

Yeah, parts of I-10 regularly get shut down due to the wind/sand storms, near the AZ and TX borders particularly. There were a couple of days last spring when traffic was at a stand-still for several hours.

Took me some time to get used to the pine cones richocheting off of my roof - it got a little scary sometimes.

[Mike Horrell]

I'm about 2 miles from Double Eagle airport on the Mesa so that's a more
reliable reporting station than the Sunport which is about 20 miles away..

[nmnita]

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.

pdtypist

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

[domino]

Originally Posted by nmnita

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.

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by domino

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.