# Tornado Watch Issued for Four New Mexico Counties

> The National Weather Service has issued Tornado Watch 693 for Catron, Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan counties in New Mexico until 9:00 PM MDT on Thursday, October 22, 2026.

By PrimaryBrief newsroom · Published 2026-10-22T17:13:11.184183Z
Canonical: https://primarybrief.com/article/tornado-watch-issued-for-four-new-mexico-counties-5b6f96ae

The National Weather Service (NWS) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, issued Tornado Watch 693 on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 11:10 AM MDT [1]. This watch is in effect until 9:00 PM MDT the same day [1]. Four counties in New Mexico are included: Catron, Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan [1]. Specific cities mentioned in the watch are Crownpoint, Datil, Farmington, Gallup, Grants, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Reserve, and Zuni Pueblo [1].

NWS Albuquerque forecasts indicate that showers and thunderstorms will spread across western New Mexico this afternoon and evening [3]. These storms could become severe, with potential hazards including damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph and hail larger than one inch in diameter [3]. A brief tornado cannot be ruled out for western New Mexico [3]. The forecast also notes a Flood Watch for all areas west of the Rio Grande Valley through Friday morning [3]. There is a Slight Risk of excessive rainfall, with the highest flash flooding threat in far western New Mexico this afternoon [3].

The NWS Weather Prediction Center issued a Mesoscale Precipitation Discussion for northwestern New Mexico earlier today, forecasting heavy rainfall and likely flash flooding, valid until 3:00 PM MDT [4]. This regional weather pattern involves a Pacific storm interacting with tropical moisture, bringing heavy rainfall and flash flooding to the Southwest USA and Four Corners region [5]. New Mexico is part of this broader flood threat [5]. Cities such as Albuquerque, Farmington, Gallup, Silver City, and Zuni Pueblo are listed among those affected or at risk for flooding in New Mexico [5].

However, an independent weather tracking application reports no active tornado watches, warnings, or advisories for Cibola County as of 6:25 PM MDT on October 22 [2]. This application also states that no tornado warning has included Cibola County in the last 12 months, and there have been zero tornado watches for the county in that period [2]. This appears to conflict with the official NWS Tornado Watch 693, which explicitly includes Cibola County [1]. Looking ahead, the Weather Prediction Center forecasts widespread precipitation across northern New Mexico from October 22-27, with totals ranging from 1 to 3 inches and localized amounts exceeding 5 inches [6].

## Evidence cited
1. NWS Tornado Watch: Catron, NM; Cibola, NM; McKinley, NM; San Juan, NM (nws_alerts) — https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.7a93955ab826d7476132a74d9b7ccb5de5b53a7c.001.1
2. Cibola County, New Mexico: tornado and severe weather warnings. (TornadoTrack.app) — https://tornadotrack.app/
3. NWS Albuquerque (weather.gov) — https://www.weather.gov/abq/
4. Mesoscale Precipitation Discussion 1513 (noaa.gov) — https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/metwatch/metwatch_mpd_multi.php
5. Southwest USA flooding (IQAir) — https://www.iqair.com/us/newsroom/southwest-usa-flooding
6. New Mexico Drought Monitor (unl.edu) — https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?NM