NM Border Air Quality Blog

Dec. 20 - Low wind, High PM event - Very mild start to the day with a low of 45F at the LC airport and high clouds overhead.

 Driving into work this morning I saw a low level haze looking south of Las Cruces. However particulates in the valley are not that high with PM10 in the 40-50 µg/m3 range and PM2.5 in the 5-8 µg/m3 range from Anthony to Las Cruces. There was an early morning low wind spike in PM at the Sunland Park City Yard station but PM is increasing during the afternoon.

 

Winds are not supposed to be a big factor today. Here are the RUC2-20km surface winds at 21 UTC (2 pm MST). It matches pretty much what we see on the ground at our stations.

 

We still have lots of clouds in the afternoon and doesn't look like a good chance for seeing the eclipse tonight. 

Midnight update:

It cleared up by midnight with just a few high clouds so prime viewing.

There was a low wind event at Anthony tonight as well with PM10 reaching 185 and PM2.5 at 28 µg/m3 at 8 pm.

 

And of course we see this event at the Sunland Park City Yard station as well with similar concentrations.

 

OK it's officially winter now! Remember winter solstice.