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WFO Albuquerque, NM
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Weather Patterns Associated with the "Albuquerque Box"
Mike Ford, Lead Forecaster (retired)
The Albuquerque Box is essentially a valley wind pattern that develops under certain "stable" conditions. During the nighttime hours, the air near the ground surface is cooled by the process of radiational cooling.  This process is most efficient with clear skies, low humidity, and light wind.  Cooler, and therefore more dense, air flows downslope and pools at lower elevations such as along arroyos and river valleys (fig. 1).  The cool air that pools in the Rio Grande valley is shallow (generally no more than a few hundred feet in depth). During the early morning hours this air flows southward down the valley from higher to lower elevation much as any fluid flows downhill.  A north wind generally less than 10 mph results in the middle Rio Grande Valley.

Fig. 1. Schematic of valley (downslope) winds.

 
Above the surface, the flow of the air is controlled by synoptic patterns in the atmosphere.  Fig. 2 depicts the 700 mb heights, or pressure pattern around 5000 feet above the surface, on 12 October 1991.  High pressure over the western states has resulted in a weak southerly flow over central New Mexico.

Fig. 3.  Sounding at Albuquerque on 12 October 1991.

Fig. 2.   Pressure pattern (700 mb heights) on 12 October 1991.
The stable "river of air" occurs below a temperature inversion which separates it from warmer, less dense air above the inversion just as vinegar is separated from oil by differences in density.  The wind direction in the air mass above the shallow inversion can be different than that below the inversion.  In an "ideal" box pattern, the wind blows in exactly the opposite direction with a north wind at the surface and a south wind above the surface, as shown below in an Albuquerque sounding (fig.3).  A skillful pilot can bring a balloon back to near the point of takeoff by changing altitudes to ride wind currents in different directions. Upon takeoff the pilot first heads south towards downtown, then ascends higher where the winds will then take the balloon back north towards the balloon fiesta grounds.

 

This wind pattern for which the Albuquerque area is well known occurs under stable conditions during the fall season when no strong weather systems are affecting the area. A local study found that on average the "box" circulation occurs 30 percent of the time in early October. Even on days when the "box" occurs, it dissipates by mid morning as the sun heats the ground, resulting in thermal turbulence which mixes the separate layers of air and eliminating the low level inversion.