Winter Weather — Northeast Highlands, New Mexico

2018-01-15 to 2018-01-16 · Northeast Highlands, New Mexico

Event narrative

A vehicle traveling northbound on Interstate 25 crashed into a divider in the center of the highway near mile marker 340. A semi truck jack knifed attempting to avoid the crash and caused a chain reaction that resulted in a 20 car pileup. Two motorists were killed in separate vehicles and numerous injures were reported. The two fatalities were identified as 52-year old Nathaniel Gerry Hurwitz of Albuquerque, New Mexico and 35-year old David Franklin Halward of Scotts Valley, California. The interstate was closed down for more than 12 hours. Damage amounts are estimated for 20 vehicles, including the contents of several semi trucks.

Wider weather episode

An arctic airmass moved southwest through northeastern New Mexico early in the morning on Martin Luther King Jr Day then surged through gaps in the central mountain chain by late in the afternoon. Moist, low-level, upslope flow into the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains generated widespread low clouds with areas of freezing drizzle, freezing fog, and very light snow over eastern New Mexico. The strongest forcing for frozen precipitation occurred around the Las Vegas area where reports of around one tenth of an inch of freezing rain accumulated. A vehicle traveling northbound on Interstate 25 crashed into the median in the center of the interstate. A tractor trailer jack knifed trying to avoid the vehicle and begun a chain reaction. Twenty vehicles piled up causing two fatalities and numerous injuries. The extent of the injuries is unknown and no further details were available from emergency services.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 727489. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.