Heavy Snow — San Francisco River Valley, New Mexico

2021-02-13 to 2021-02-14 · San Francisco River Valley, New Mexico

Event narrative

A trained spotter in Aragon measured 4 inches of snow on the afternoon of February 14th.

Wider weather episode

A major and historic winter storm impacted New Mexico over multiple days from February 13th through the morning hours of February 15, 2021. A significant and very cold arctic airmass surged southward through the central United States earlier in the week, and this very cold air finally swept east to west across New Mexico on February 13th and 14th. This brought record cold temperatures to much of the state, and gusty winds resulted in dangerous wind chills. The coldest temperatures during this event were observed in the early morning hours of February 15th where wind chills across eastern New Mexico were as much as 30 degrees below zero. Meanwhile, a Pacific storm system approaching from the west brought the necessary ingredients for widespread snow to develop. Mountain locations received as much as 12 inches of snow while lower elevations generally received about 3 to 6 inches. Hazardous travel conditions were reported across much of the state with blizzard conditions even developing across portions of central New Mexico, including the Albuquerque metro area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 933552. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.