Heavy Snow in Guadalupe Mountains of Chaves County, New Mexico

The combination of strong over-running and extended periods of easterly upslope winds produced heavy snow across central and eastern New Mexico as a cold arctic air mass covered the region and small disturbances passed overhead. Cold air eventually spread west through the central valleys into the western mountains to generate snow from slow moving upper level disturbances. East central counties saw the heaviest and longest duration snow with amounts topping 10 inches at Melrose in Curry County. Other surrounding areas between Clovis, Fort Sumner and Roswell reported 5 to 7 inches. Central mountain areas from east of Albuquerque south to Ruidoso saw amounts of 6 to 10 inches. Three to five inches snow fell across portions of the Middle Rio Grande Valley while the peak snow amounts in the western areas of the state included 7 to 8 inches as far west as the Four Corners region and the plateaus between Gallup and Socorro.