A massive gust of wind rocked New Mexico on Wednesday, uprooting power lines and uprooting trees.

The National Weather Service reported gusts of 73 mph at 1:27 p.m. at the airport as a cold front passed through Albuquerque.

According to Andrew Church, a meteorologist at the NWS office in Albuquerque, it was one of the top “non-thunderstorm gusts” recorded at Sunport. The strongest such gust ever recorded was 89 mph, he said.

“We went from 54 degrees to 37 degrees,” Church said, an hour before the cold front hit Albuquerque.

Another cold front with strong winds is forecast for Sunday, he said.

Due to the dust, the Albuquerque Bernallio County Air Quality Program issued a health alert effective Wednesday noon through Thursday at 2:00 am. People with respiratory diseases were warned to limit outdoor activities.

Rio Rancho Public Schools has issued a shelter notice to schools across the district.

New Mexico State Police spokesman Officer Ray Wilson said there were no major road closures as of mid-afternoon Wednesday. By Wednesday night, however, Gallup had received a warning of a winter storm, creating gusts of up to 55 mph and closing Interstate 40 west of Gallup. Due to extreme weather in Arizona, the DOT closed his Exits 26, 20 and 16 overnight. All Arizona facilities along Interstate 40 were full, and his Exit 16 into Gallup remained open for residents and motorists seeking accommodations, according to the DOT.

Additionally, I-40 through Holbrook, Arizona was closed.

“Fortunately… we didn’t have a big crash,” said Wilson.

Strong winds caused power outages to 12,450 homes across New Mexico, said Shannon Jackson, spokesperson for the New Mexico Public Service Company.

Among these outages were 5,513 homes in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights and 1,967 homes in the northwestern part of the city. 1,970 homes in Las Vegas, 1,134 in Deming and 567 in Santa Fe lost power.

There have also been reports of traffic lights not working in downtown Albuquerque.

Jackson said most of the blackouts were caused by tree branches falling on power lines or power poles falling over. Additional service crews were called in to assist with the repair work, but most were expected to be resolved within hours.

PNM posted hourly updates on the status of the outage online at Facebook.com/PNMelectric or on Twitter at @PNMtalk.

Advance

A cold front extending from the Gila National Forest in the northeast to Clayton was expected to leave New Mexico by late Wednesday, but snow is likely to continue through Thursday, especially in northern New Mexico, the NWS church said. Stated.

Temperatures on Thursday will be in the high 30s to low 40s in the west and north, and in the high 40s in the central Rio Grande Valley, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees.

Southwest gusts are forecast to reach 15 to 25 mph over the Albuquerque area and the central Rio Grande Valley and 20 to 30 mph over the Eastern Plains, Church said.

Friday and Saturday were expected to be mild, with temperatures rising to around 60 degrees Celsius, but “another storm system with strong winds” was forecast for Sunday, with temperatures dropping rapidly on Sunday afternoon. bottom. Church said the system would primarily affect his two-thirds of the state’s north, with snow on the northern mountains.

KOAT meteorologist Byron Morton said strong winds were unusual for this time of year but could be a sign of things to come. said there is.

Journal Staff Writer Lucas Pearman contributed to this article.