The Highest Wind Speeds Ever Recorded In El Paso History
Living in the desert, we're expected to have windy days every now & then. Living in El Paso, we've absolutely had our share of running after our trash cans getting blown away in the wind, or seeing objects fly across the street. Or even in our backyards.
Now we might not have had the fastest winds in the state of Texas, but we've definitely experienced gusts that come from another world. Usually between February to June, that's when it gets the windiest in El Paso with April being the windiest. Living in the desert, it can go from clear skies to a blanket of darkness. It's bad enough when you're driving in your car...
It's an even bigger pain when you're outdoors when it gets windy.
Most of the winds come from The Franklin Mountains; because of the slope of the mountains, and the winds that travel down most on the east side, East El Paso is more likely to experience high speed winds than the Northeast or the West. That would explain why some of the craziest videos of the winds are mostly from the east side of town.
But of course we know that EVERY side of town can fall victim to the winds.
So what's the highest wind speed ever recorded in El Paso?
According to the National Weather Service, the highest winds ever recorded in El Paso clocked in with gusts at 84 mph. And it happened TWICE: March 10, 1977 & March 26, 2010. (I'm sensing a pattern here). In other words, those wind speeds can NEARLY be classified as EF1 Tornado.
In fact we don't even get tornadoes in El Paso. Not even the 2013 "tornado" was that fast. It also wasn't a tornado; it was a giant dust devil. But we certainly DO get dust storms.
Regardless, El Paso will continue to experience high winds; hopefully not as fast as what we got back in 1977 & 2010.