Winds Take Out El Paso’s Iconic Star On The Mountain

El Paso winds are no joke. Sunday’s winds left a trail of damage and destruction from Northeast El Paso to Van Horn, Texas.

The wind gusts that reached up to 70 miles per hour damaged homes and businesses, toppled street signs and utility poles and uprooted trees. Among the casualties was El Paso’s iconic Star on The Mountain.

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How Long Will the Star Remain Dark?

The El Paso Chamber, which is in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the star, noted in a social media post on Monday that the light fixture had been taken out by the windstorm.

Due to damage sustained by the high winds, the Star on the Mountain will go dark until further notice.-- El Paso Chamber

The type of destruction the star design sustained was not addressed but it’s safe to assume a lot of light bulbs were broken.

The landmark, which has been a daily part of our evening skyline since April 1993, has taken a beating from wind damage before.

Most recently in March of 2021 wind gusts that reached up to 60 miles per hour left the light fixture so mangled it was down for about a week.

The chamber did not disclose how long the Star was going to remain dark this time.

Historic Winds

According to the National Weather Service El Paso, Sunday’s peak wind gust of 71 miles per hour measured at the El Paso International Airport ranks as the seventh highest wind gust clocked there in modern history.