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

Heavy snowfall impacted the higher terrain areas of the west slopes with up to 21 inches at the Santa Barbara SNOTEL. Other lower elevation sites picked up generally 2 to 6 inches. Difficult driving conditions were reported around the area.

A potent upper level storm system developed over Arizona on Christmas Day then moved slowly east along the Mexico border through the 27th. Snow developed quickly from south to north over New Mexico on the 26th while an arctic cold front raced south and west across the state. Wind gusts behind the front averaged 60 to 80 mph across the eastern plains. The combination of heavy snow and high winds created blizzard conditions across nearly the entire eastern half of New Mexico. Travel across all of eastern New Mexico was shut down. The entire stretch of Interstate 40 from Albuquerque to Amarillo was shut down for nearly 36 hours. A Civil Emergency was declared for Quay, Curry, Roosevelt, De Baca, Chaves, and eastern Lincoln counties as dozens of motorists were stranded in their vehicles in 6 to 10 foot snow drifts. Department of Public Safety assisted a total of 455 motorists. Emergency response personnel were even stranded trying to reach these motorists. Residents were blockaded in their homes with drifts up to the top of roofs. Xcel Energy reported power outages in at least 14,200 residences across eastern New Mexico and at least 30,000 residential disruptions during the storm. Numerous trees and power lines were downed as well as several structures due to the weight of heavy snow. Snowfall accumulations of 15 to 30 inches were common from the central mountain chain eastward across much of the plains. Ski Apache reported a whopping 41 inches. Department of Agriculture reported around 12,000 adult milking cows perished in the storm and between 30,000 and 50,000 young livestock died. A couple 1-day snowfall records were broken with this event. One person died from exposure in Albuquerque and another while shoveling snow in Roswell. The New Mexico EOC coordinated with the National Guard to assist several counties with disaster operations.