Hail — Bernalillo, New Mexico

2026-01-08 · near (abq)albuquerque Intl Airport, Bernalillo, New Mexico

Event narrative

Quarter sized hail/graupel observed at the National Weather Service office.

Wider weather episode

Two back to back winter storm systems impacted northern and central NM with the first from late January 7th through the morning of January 8th with the second colder system crossing the state late January 8th through the afternoon of January 9th. The first storm brought snow to mainly the mountains and nearby highlands, with valley and plains locations receiving mainly rain. Gusty west winds were observed across the central highlands midday on January 8th between the two storm systems with a peak wind gust of 65 mph at a Ziamet station southeast of Vaughn. The second storm system approached the state during the afternoon hours of January 8th with western New Mexico impacted by a band of snow on the leading edge of the storm. This band of snow moved into the middle Rio Grande Valley during the evening. This band contained a convective storm with large hail and graupel across the Albuquerque metro area. Accumulating graupel and hail forced the closure of I-40 west of Albuquerque with one inch diameter hail and graupel observed at the National Weather Service office. As the core of the system moved into western NM the night of January 8th and early morning of January 9th, a wraparound snow band brought moderate to heavy snow across northwest and north-central NM, including Farmington, Taos, and Santa Fe. Moderate to heavy snow then shifted to northeast NM on the north side of the storm during the morning and midday hours of January 9th. North wind gusts of up to 45 mph resulted in blowing snow and near whiteout conditions and the temporary closures of I-25 at Raton Pass and U.S. Highway 64/87 between Raton and Clayton. Snow across northeast NM tapered off during the early evening hours as the system exited into the central Great Plains. A lingering band of snow across Espanola, Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and Glorieta brought some light snow during the evening hours of January 9th before skies finally cleared up and temperatures plummeted overnight.

In the end, snowfall amounts of 2 to 6 inches were observed across lower elevations of northwest and north central New Mexico, 4 to 7 inches across the Jemez and Tusas Mountains with an estimated 10 inches at the Bateman SNOTEL site in the southern Tusas Mountains. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains observed 1 to 2 feet of snow with the higher end of this range observed at Ski Santa Fe and the Santa Fe SNOTEL site. The eastern foothills of the Albuquerque Metro observed 1 to 2 inches of a snow and graupel mix and the Sandia and Manzano Mountains observing around 5 to 9 inches of snow with locally a foot on the Sandia Crest. The west-central and southwest mountains observed around 3 to 5 inches of snow with locally up to an estimated 16 inches at Whitewater Baldy Peak. Finally, the Ruidoso area observed around 1 to 4 inches of snow with 10 inches at Sierra Blanca Peak and Ski Apache.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.0400, -106.6200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1299777. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.