Los Alamos County Hit by Wind Gusts Reaching 67 MPH

Wind gusts reaching 67 mph tore through Los Alamos County on March 15, with the highest recorded speeds logged at Los Alamos Airport and a separate Mesonet station in White Rock capturing gusts between 58 and 59 mph, according to NWS Albuquerque automated observations.

The National Weather Service had placed the area under a High Wind Watch from 3:00 AM to 4:00 PM MDT that day, and a separate Red Flag Warning ran from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM MDT, reflecting concerns about fire weather conditions alongside the extreme gusts. The airport station, identified by its KLAM designator and situated at roughly 7,171 feet elevation, bore the brunt of the event, with automated instruments recording non-thunderstorm gusts of 66 to 67 mph.

The timing stood in stark contrast to conditions measured just the day before. At 2:35 PM on March 14, the KLAM automated station showed winds out of the west at 12 mph with gusts reaching only 23 mph, alongside a humidity reading of 10 percent and a dewpoint of 8 degrees Fahrenheit. That bone-dry air, combined with westerly flow strengthening overnight, set the stage for what followed on March 15.

The Red Flag Warning is consistent with those conditions: humidity at 10 percent represents critically low moisture for the Pajarito Plateau and surrounding Jemez Mountains terrain, where dry vegetation can ignite and spread fire rapidly under strong winds. NWS Albuquerque had not yet released the specific fuel and humidity thresholds underpinning the warning at the time of publication.

Looking ahead, Sunday brings patchy blowing dust and breezy conditions with a high near 53 degrees before calmer weather returns early in the week. Temperatures climb steadily through Wednesday, when the forecast calls for a high of 77 degrees under sunny skies.