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

2018-01-20 to 2018-01-21 · Southern Sangre De Cristo Mountains Above 9500 Feet, New Mexico

Event narrative

Various sources in the southern high terrain of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains reported between eight and 14 inches of snow with blowing snow. Travel across the area was very difficult with bitter cold temperatures and gusty winds. This storm was the first impactful storm of the 2017-2018 winter season.

Wider weather episode

A winter storm system developed along the California coastline on January 19th and pushed east across Arizona on the 20th. Relatively moist southwest flow ahead of this system surged into New Mexico by the late afternoon hours on the 20th. A band of rain and snow arrived from Arizona along a potent Pacific cold front around sunset and brought a dramatic change to winter conditions over western New Mexico. This front raced eastward toward the Rio Grande Valley by midnight and changed rain quickly over to snow. The front continued progressing rapidly eastward across the eastern plains through the early morning hours on the 21st. The cold, unstable, orographic forcing on the back side of this system brought the greatest snowfall of the season to the northern and western mountains. Areas along the Continental Divide from the Gila Wilderness northward across the Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 550 corridors picked up between two and six inches of snow. The northern mountains benefited the most from the system with many areas picking up eight to 16 inches. Light snow was even reported in the Albuquerque Foothills and in the East Mountain communities. The dramatically colder temperatures deteriorated travel conditions quickly over the region. Many highways saw difficult driving conditions and Interstate 40 was even shutdown near Edgewood due to extremely icy conditions. Widespread windy conditions were also reported with this storm. Many areas from the east slopes of the central mountain chain across the eastern plains reported peak winds between 50 and 60 mph. The extended period of very dry conditions over eastern New Mexico elevated fire danger between the 19th and 21st. A wildfire broke out near Ned Houk Park north of Clovis on the back side of the departing system on January 21st and burned 2000 acres. No injuries or damages occurred from this fire.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 728197. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.