Heavy Snow — Northwest Mountains Including Jemez, New Mexico

1996-10-20 to 1996-10-21 · Northwest Mountains Including Jemez, New Mexico

Wider weather episode

As strong cold front produced record breaking snowfall and new daily record low temperatures across sections of north central New Mexico. Santa Fe Plaza had 11 inches of snow in less than 12 hours, breaking the record for heaviest single October snow of 7 inches set in 1965. Los Alamos with 12.5 inches of snow also set a new monthly record. Ski areas from Santa Fe north to Taos and Red River reported 8 to 12 inches of snow, while Gascon and other small villages on the east slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains received 14 to 16 inches. Numerous power outages were reported as the heavy wet snow broke tree limbs still full with fall leaves. The unusually early and heavy snow resulted in numerous traffic accidents and one weather related traffic fatality.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5580907. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.