Heavy Snow — West Central Mountains, New Mexico

2023-01-20 · West Central Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Heavy snow impacted the area with a trained spotter reported a snow accumulation of 12 inches along the Continental Divide. The New Mexico DOT also reported a weather related car crash resulting in the closure of I-40 at the Continental Divide during the afternoon at 14:10 pm local time.

Wider weather episode

A closed upper low crossed northern New Mexico on January 20, 2023 and exited over the Great Plains on January 21, 2023. Heavy snow was observed at numerous locations resulting in several road closures, including on Interstates 25 and 40. Weather related car crashes also resulted, including a flipped snow plow on NM Highway 4 just west of Los Alamos. Strong northerly winds behind the upper low also brought reports of blowing snow through far northeastern NM on January 21, 2023 from Raton to Clayton. This resulted in very low visibility and resulted in the closure of U.S. Highway 64 at Clayton.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1067122. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.