Heavy Snow — Southwest Mountains, New Mexico

2024-03-15 to 2024-03-16 · Southwest Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

A CoCoRaHS observer in Pietown observed 10 inches of snowfall. Additionally, another CoCoRaHS observer 2 miles west of Datil observed 8.6 inches of snowfall. Approximately 9 inches of snowfall was observed at the Silver Creek Divide SNOTEL.

Wider weather episode

An upper low stalled over Arizona Thursday, March 14th. Snow fell across far northeast New Mexico behind a backdoor cold front during the day. The cutoff upper low drew the backdoor front south and west through the gaps of the central mountain chain with snow filling in its wake that evening. High winds were observed at Albuquerque and the White Sands Missile Range for most of the day on the 15th. Peak gusts reached 60 to 70 mph immediately below the Tijeras Canyon along I-40 and to the Albuquerque Sunport, while also reaching 70 mph near the Oscura Mountains. The high winds caused damage to some parts of Albuquerque with roofs damaged and a recycling truck blown over. Thankfully, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. Meanwhile, significant snow resulted across the northern mountains Thursday night. A band of snow developed over western NM March 15th along the edge of the cold front, resulting in significant snow accumulations through the western and northern mountains Friday night into early Saturday morning, March 16th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1157005. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.