Heavy Snow — Southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains Above 9500 Feet, New Mexico

2017-01-15 to 2017-01-16 · Southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains Above 9500 Feet, New Mexico

Event narrative

Various sources across the high terrain east of Santa Fe reported between 10 and 15 inches of snow.

Wider weather episode

An extended fetch of deep subtropical moisture surged northeast out of the eastern Pacific Ocean while a weak back door cold front seeped slowly southwest across eastern New Mexico. The combination of a shallow pool of cold air over northeastern New Mexico and abundant moisture set the stage for rare freezing rain from Tucumcari north to Clayton. Snow levels over the northern high terrain started out above 9,000 feet for the first half of the event until colder air arrived with the passing of an upper level low pressure system. Snow levels then fell to many areas for the second half of the winter storm and resulted in heavy snowfall over the northern mountains and adjacent highlands. Snowfall amounts of 10 to 15 inches were common in the high terrain and 6 to 10 inches over the northeast highlands. Impacts to travel were not severe in most areas as temperatures were marginally freezing for most of the event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 666593. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.