New Mexico faced a challenging day on Tuesday as dust storms, fierce winds, and brush fires wreaked havoc across the state. These conditions led to substantial disruptions, affecting highway traffic, cutting off electricity, and causing damage to structures.
The National Weather Service issued an emergency alert to cellphones, cautioning about zero-visibility situations and potential health risks, particularly for infants and seniors. The winds in some regions soared to 70 mph (113 kph), intensifying the severity of the situation.
Meteorologist Marc Chenard explained that powerful winds were driven by a low-pressure system over Kansas, while the region’s prolonged dry spell created ideal conditions for fire threats and dust storms. The combination of these factors led to reduced visibility, in some instances almost to zero, especially in areas such as the Albuquerque-Santa Fe corridor and high plains communities along Interstate 40. The stretch of Interstate 25 near Cochiti Pueblo was temporarily closed due to dust and poor visibility before reopening.
In reaction to the blinding dust, the New Mexico Department of Transportation shut down a 130-mile segment of Interstate 10, which extends from the Arizona border to just outside Las Cruces, and state highways in the vicinity of Deming were also closed. In the state’s oil-producing region near Roswell and Carlsbad, road closures were also implemented due to the high winds.
The National Weather Service advised motorists against driving into dust storms with the statement, “Pull aside and stay alive.” By Tuesday evening, more than 39,000 residents were left without power, as reported by PowerOutage.us. The utility company PNM addressed the outages on social media, noting the high winds as the cause and urging residents to prepare for the potential of more power failures.
Authorities highlighted the increased risk of wildfires in the current conditions, following a grassland fire that had necessitated evacuations near Wagon Mound the previous Friday. Additionally, a brush fire ignited in Bosque Farms, a village south of Albuquerque, which led to the temporary closure of a section of Highway 47. The Valencia County Fire Department confirmed that the fire had destroyed some structures, though the extent of the damage remained unclear.
This is not an isolated issue, as New Mexico wasn’t the only area affected by these dust storms. Last week, a severe pile-up occurred on Interstate 70 in western Kansas due to dust storms, tragically resulting in the deaths of eight individuals.
