Kermit, Texas

... Public information statement...

... High wind impact statement...

Valid...

Today

High winds ongoing...

A powerful upper level storm system moving across New Mexico
today has resulted in strengthening surface low pressure over
northeast New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle. This in turn has resulted
in widespread high wind and damage across portions of southeast
New Mexico and West Texas.

High winds first developed over the higher elevations of the
Guadalupe... Delaware... and Davis Mountains early this morning.
As cloud cover has dissipated across the southeast New Mexico
plains and the adjacent plains of southwest Texas... .winds have
increased to damaging levels across all of southeast New
Mexico... the northern and western Permian Basin... and the upper trans
Pecos region.

High winds will continue to spread east across the remainder of
the plains including lower elevations later this afternoon.

This upper system has proven to be comparable to the system that passed
through the area on January 17 1996... resulting in a wind gust of
128 mph through Guadalupe Pass and significant damage across
portions of southeast New Mexico... the upper trans Pecos... and
portions of the Permian Basin. Winds gusts up to 105 mph have been
reported at the Guadalupe bowl. A wind gust of 86 mph was measured
at Guadalupe Pass early in the event before equipment failed at
that location.

Affected area...

The Guadalupe... Delaware... and Davis Mountains will have the
strongest winds today. Dangerous wind gusts of 100 to 115 mph will
continue through midnight for the Guadalupe Pass and the higher
elevation of the Guadalupe Mountains. Wind gusts nearing 90 mph
will continue above 6000 ft in the Davis and Delaware Mountains.

Elsewhere... damaging winds will continue over much of the area
through early evening. Sustained winds of 35 to 50 mph with gusts
of 60 to 70 mph will continue across the southeast New Mexico
plains... the Permian Basin... the tran Pecos region... and the Van
Horn area along the Interstate 10 corridor of Culberson County.
Areas that have not yet experienced these high winds should see
them occur later this afternoon..with only the Presidio
valley... southern portions of Brewster County... and Terrell County
missing the main brunt of these high winds.

Forecast timing...

High winds will continue across the plains of southeast New
Mexico and the adjacent plains of southwest Texas through early
evening. High winds will continue across the Guadalupe and Davis
Mountains through noon on Wednesday. However... the most extreme
winds should end later this evening with a slight decrease toward
a more routine high wind event overnight and Wednesday morning.

Potential impacts...
strong westerly high winds have made travel across much of the
area extremely treacherous this afternoon. High profile vehicles
will be especially susceptible to dangerous Crosswinds on
north/south oriented roads. Reports of overturned vehicles have
already been reported this afternoon.

Travel is strongly discouraged across the entire area... but
especially along Interstate 20 from Pecos westward to west of Van
Horn along Interstate 10. In these areas... extreme winds and
locally reduced visibilities to around 1 mile due to blowing dust
will make driving extremely dangerous. Those traveling U.S.
Highway 62/180 into Eddy County New Mexico and farm to Market Road
652 in northern Culberson County will also be at risk from similar
conditions.

North/south roads such as State Highway 54 in Culberson County...
U.S. Highway 90 between Van Horn and Valentine... farm to Market
Road 2185 in Culberson County... and state highways 118... 166... and
17 in Jeff Davis County all provide added crosswind concerns.

Other areas to the east across the upper trans Pecos and the Texas
permian will also experience high winds and localized blowing dust.
Downed power lines and poles along roadways are possible. In
addition... historical records suggest that winds in the 60 to 70 mph
range can produce isolated damage to corrugated tin roofing and
other items depending on local effects.

Wind Advisory type conditions of 25 to 35 mph with gusts of 40 to
45 mph are possible over Presidio... Brewster... and Terrell
counties... including the Presidio valley today.

Discussion...

With the strong upper storm system and associated deep surface
low pressure over the Panhandle... indications are that high winds
will continue through early evening across much of the area. The
following are some of the peak winds that have been received
during this high wind event:


Guadalupe bowl 105 mph
Mount Locke 87 mph
Guadalupe Pass 86 mph (equipment outage occurred)
The Pinery 85 mph
Maljamar nm 78 mph
11 NW Fort Davis 75 mph
Seagraves 68 mph
Seminole 67 mph
Wink 67 mph
Lovington nm 64 mph
Tatum 64 mph
Carlsbad 62 mph
Midland 62 mph
Hobbs 61 mph
Andrews 61 mph
Artesia 60 mph
bat draw 59 mph