Extreme Cold/Wind Chill — Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

2026-01-25 to 2026-01-26 · Chaves County Plains, New Mexico

Event narrative

The mesonet station at Hagerman observed a minimum wind chill of 20 below zero. Elsewhere in the zone, the mesonet station at Dexter and the ASOS at the Roswell Air Center each observed a minimum wind chill of 19 below zero.

Wider weather episode

A significant winter storm impacted northern and central NM from January 23rd through January 27th, with a combination of heavy snow, ice, and extreme cold impacts. A subtropical upper low beginning off the coast of the northern Baja Peninsula transported abundant moisture into the Desert Southwest and New Mexico in particular, much of it overriding an anomalously bitter cold and shallow Arctic airmass over eastern NM. This warmer moisture laden air overriding subfreezing surface temperatures set the stage for freezing rain and sleet for areas along the south-central highlands to the south-central mountains and southeastern plains of NM January 23rd through January 24th. Slick icy travel conditions were reported in these areas alongside ice and snow downing limbs and trees across the Ruidoso area burn scars. Power outages and road closures in the Ruidoso area lasted multiple days from January 24th to at least January 28th. While the entire event was snow for the northeastern plains and northern mountains, the transition from rain to snow through the middle Rio Grande Valley and an icy wintry mix to all snow through the aforementioned areas of ice did not occur until late January 25th when a trailing upper level system over the Four Corners area brought snow levels down to valley floors. The highest snow accumulations of 30 plus inches fell atop Sierra Blanca Peak just west of Ruidoso. A Village Disaster Declaration was made January 27th. General amounts of 2 to 8 inches of snow fell elsewhere across the northern mountains, highlands, and southeastern plains. Extreme cold settled into eastern NM behind the Arctic airmass where 72 to 96 hours of subfreezing temperatures lasted in many areas. Freezing fog limiting visibility in these areas were present during the first 48 hours of the event, with extreme cold wind chills falling below zero to negative 10 to 15 degrees below zero during the nights thereafter through the morning of January 27th. Conditions from ice and snow began improving January 26th while the extreme cold and wind chills persisted for the southeast plains particularly near Roswell through January 27th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1301357. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.