Winter Weather — Central Highlands, New Mexico

2025-12-03 to 2025-12-04 · Central Highlands, New Mexico

Event narrative

Local news station KOB reported a deadly semi-truck crash along I-40 just east of Clines Corners. The semi-truck lost control and rolled over with another semi-truck crashing into it, with two other trucks crashing into them. The first semi-truck is likely the one that caught fire and became engulfed in flames. There was unfortunately one fatality reported while another was taken to the hospital. Damage is an estimate of the four crashed trucks.

Wider weather episode

An upper level storm system initially brought a mix of valley rain and mountain snow to northern and central NM. The first precipitation reports entered northwestern NM with the arrival of the initial upper level trough, spreading and expanding across the northern mountains and adjacent highlands southward to the I-40 corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa by late Wednesday December 3rd. Mesoscale snowbands began to setup as a surface cold front advanced south and west across eastern NM and upslope into the east slopes of the central mountain chain Wednesday evening. This enhanced snow fall through the East Mountain Communities east of Albuquerque and the Sandia Mountains where 6 to 12 inches of snow was reported by Thursday morning on December 4th. An unfortunate semi-truck accident occurred along I-40 just east of Clines Corners at roughly 4:30am MST on the morning of December 4th. Slick and icy roads caused the driver to lose control and have their semi-truck rollover while another semi-truck crashed into them. Two other trucks were involved with one catching fire and becoming engulfed in flames according to a KOB news media report of the incident. Snow cleared out just before sunrise on the morning of December 4th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1296292. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.