Heavy Snow — West Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

2009-12-07 to 2009-12-08 · West Slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

In general, 8 to 16 inches of snow fell across the west slopes of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. Some reported amounts include 14 inches in Tererro and around 8 inches at Sipapu Ski Area. The heavy snow resulted in one death in the Santa Fe Foothills. Gail Patterson, a 57-year old woman from Dallas, TX was trying to flag down an oncoming vehicle after her own vehicle slid off Atalaya Hill Road, a narrow, steep grade road, into a drainage ditch. The vehicle she was trying to flag down started to slide down the icy road, struck and killed her.

Wider weather episode

A potent storm system brought heavy snow and high winds across the state. Snowfall started on December 6th across the San Juan Mountains. Snow increased in coverage and intensity on the 7th, and a final blast of snow came early on the 8th as a cold front swept from west to east across New Mexico. Many locales on the west facing slopes of the northern mountains were measuring snow in feet rather than inches. Meanwhile, a mid level jet streak in excess of 80 knots was moving across the southwest mountains northeastward onto the plains. The strong winds combined with the heavy snow resulted in blizzard conditions across the southwest mountains as well as portions of central New Mexico. Wind gusts near 135 mph were measured across Magdalena Peak, which set a new record for the highest wind gust measured in the state. Across the south central mountains and eastern plains, the high winds were a bigger concern than the snow. Widespread surface wind gusts in excess of 60 mph were measured across this area. Several buildings, vehicles and trees sustained damage.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 199114. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.