Extreme weather in Albuquerque for BBB & Butrflynet, Diane & Osso

http://www.koat.com/news/30704688/detail.html

High Winds Bring Power Outages, Fires
Crews Restore Power To 21,000

POSTED: 12:16 pm MDT March 18, 2012
UPDATED: 4:30 pm MDT March 18, 2012


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A high wind warning continues until 8 p.m. for much of New Mexico, including Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Grants, Raton, Las Vegas, Santa Rosa, Ruidoso, Alamogordo, Las Cruces, Deming and Lordsburg. Winds will gust up to 60 mph, creating areas of blowing dust, dangerous crosswinds and extreme fire danger.

PNM has restored power to about 21,000 around Albuquerque. Currently, 10,543 customers have no power, according to PNM. If you see a downed power line, stay far away. Avoid low hanging lines. Call 911 and PNM immediately.

To report a power outage, call 1-888-DIAL-PNM.

The wind ripped a power line off a transformer near Aztec and Colorado in northeast Albuquerque.

"I live across the street and I saw it through my window and a wire ripped out of the transformer. I saw a large blue spark and then heard an arcing sound," neighbor John Stiker said.

The downed lines started a small fire, but crews were able to douse the flames quickly. No homes were damaged.

Later in the day, a small brush fire sparked near Tramway Lane. A wooden fence near a house caught fire, but crews put it out before it reached the house.

High winds carried that fire for more than an acre before fire crews got a handle on it.

Crews are mopping up Wind Canyon Fire west of Silver City at this time. No structures were damaged. Some smoke is still visible. At last check, the fire was around seven acres in size.

A wind advisory is in effect until 8 p.m. for areas including Tucumcari and Roswell. Winds will gust up to 50 mph there.

The wind has forced the closure of several roads:

US 180 from mile marker 127 to mile marker 164 is closed because of high winds with low visibility due to blowing dust.
NM 26 is closed due to zero visibility due to high winds and blowing dust.
NM 11 from mile marker 22 to mile marker 34 is closed because of high winds and low visibility due to blowing dust.

A winter storm warning will be in effect through Monday for areas including Gallup, the Chuska Mountains, Dulce, Chama, Los Alamos, Quemado and Glenwood. Three to five inches of snow is expected in those areas.

A winter weather advisory is in effect through Monday for areas including Farmington, Cuba, Pecos, Red River, and Taos for snow and blowing snow.

Butrflynet checked the rest of Albuquerque. Lots of damage, down trees, etc. But we will have another day of the wind until Money.

I called Diane to be sure she and her house is OK so far. She will call Osso.

This storm is heading east so get prepared.

BBB

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/weather/winds-cancel-delay-flights-at-sunport

Winds: Road closures, flight delays
Winds cancel, delay flights at Sunport

Updated: Sunday, 18 Mar 2012, 5:06 PM MDT
Published : Sunday, 18 Mar 2012, 2:56 PM MDT


ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - High winds and low visibility caused a mess at the Albuquerque Sunport Sunday.

According to the Sunport’s website, flights scheduled between noon and 6 o’clock were delayed, many ended up being cancelled.

Many flights heading to Albuquerque were diverted, delayed from take off or cancelled.

That included the flight from Portland that the Lobos were supposed to board Sunday morning.

The Lobos were scheduled to be in at 1:30 Sunday afternoon now they are expected to arrive around 6 p.m.

Some Lobo fans who traveled from Cuba to see the team said they would stick around until they arrived.


Check the status of your flight with your airline.

High winds and visibility issues are also causing issues on New Mexico Roads.

NM 26 is closed due to zero visibility due to high winds and blowing dust. Please seek alternate route.

New Mexico 11 from mile marker 22 to mile marker 34 is closed becauase of high winds and low visibility due to blowing dust. Please use extreme caution.

US 180 from mile marker 127 to mile marker 164 is closed because of difficult driving conditions due to high winds with low visibility due to blowing dust . Please use extreme caution.

I-10 from Deming to Las Cruces is closed due to zero visibility from high winds and blowing dust. Please seek alternate route.

I-10 eastbound from Lordsburg to Deming is closed due to zero visibility from blowing dust and high winds.

Waiting to learn if Roger and his house is ok in the high north area.

BBB

Didn't Edgar warn about those shallow rooted pine trees before?

Odds are that y'all will be fine, but take care.

that is why there is no species of pine tree native to Kansas.

duck and cover, kids...

be safe.

Lots of firewood around there, Rocky. Road trip in the offing?

I don't burn pine trees...

and gas is killing me locally as it is.

Has anyone heard from Diane during the wind event?

Doing just fine. High, but not very destructive winds. Occasional rain mixed with snow. Temperatures around 42 - feels worse.

Albuquerque almost always has worse weather in all four seasons. Almost always.

I'm doing an 'eh', which could come back and slap me.

I live in a housing tract that is built by imbeciles. I could elaborate on that. I'm here too late to run around suing even if I could afford to or thought it wise.

I've lived and designed in places with sustained winds and rains and earthquakes. That is why I have some of my opinions about building. I have tough standards and I live in a place without those, but with apparent cheezit contractors.

The good news is that my immediate neighbor cut their banned tree back.

Yes, we've called Diane and other than being worried about her roof shingles, she's okay.

I'll be doing a visual of our roof shingles when the wind calms down tomorrow or Tuesday. When I do, I'll swing by her place and see if any damage is visual. Michael will do a complete inspection of both roofs when he does the HVAC switch over to the swamp coolers next month.

One of our neighbors lost the outdoor porch lanterns in the wind. Some of the fences along Ladera have been flattened.

Other than that, I haven't seen anything major in our immediate neighborhood.

Around noon time, the winds were blowing so bad it was blowing open the magnetized double flaps on the doggie door and bringing in clouds of dust. The kitchen floor now has a light coating of dust I'll have to vacuum up when this storm is over with.

I make sure all the portholes are closed on the cabin if I leave. we average 20 mph this time of year. and gusts into the 60s and 70s with a front moving through.

I sympathize with you folks that don't normally live in a wind tunnel...

Some of the fences along Ladera were ready to be flatenned.

I guess I'll go for obnoxious. I have never seen worse fences than built than here, at least in the u.s.

I barely noticed all that.

As far as I know, everything is okay. Like Butrflynet, I'll have to check the outside tomorrow.
I felt sorry for Sally, having to do her business outside. The wind almost blew her over.
Glad everyone else is okay.

Ditto.