Heavy Snow — West Central Mountains, New Mexico

2024-01-04 · West Central Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

The Cibola County emergency manager reported 16 inches of snow just west of Mt. Taylor. Other amounts ranged from 4 to 8 inches along the Continental Divide. A significant accident involving five semi-trucks occurred along I-40 at MM47 which closed the interstate. Injuries and casualties from this accident are unknown. Damage is an estimate based on damage to vehicles and lost product.

Wider weather episode

A strong and well organized winter storm system crossed west to east across northern and central NM during January 4th. Heavy snow causing travel impacts to the I-40 corridor along and west of the Continental Divide began during the morning hours with snow expanding through the northern mountain and valley areas by midday. A mesoscale band of heavy snow developed over the west mesa of Albuquerque stretching down through the South Valley area by the afternoon period. This caused several inches to pile up in a short period of a few hours over southern and eastern portions of the ABQ metro area. Heavy snow was also reported through parts of the Sangre de Cristo and Sandia/Manzano Mountains. Numerous reports of severe driving conditions were reported by the NM Department of Transportation across western and northern NM with a few road closures.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1146770. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.