Winter Storm — Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico

2006-12-29 to 2006-12-31 · Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico

Event narrative

Record snows of 16 to 26 inches were reported across Albuquerque and Rio Rancho and in the nearby east mountain communities of the Sandia and Manzano Mountains. Many city streets were clogged and almost impassable for 24 to 36 hours. Travel north along Interstate 25 and east on Interstate 40 was restricted with long periods of closures as crews struggled to keeping road open in the steady and heavy snow.

Wider weather episode

Record snows measuring in feet instead of the usual inches developed across central and northeastern New Mexico as an upper level closed low remained nearly stationary for about 36 hours over southwest areas of the state. Long sweeping bands of moderate to heavy snow then repeated across the south central and southeast counties and north into the Interstate 40 corridor including the Albuquerque area which saw over a foot of heavy snow in many sections of the city and two feet along the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. The storm eventually broke free and drifted northeast creating long periods of heavy snow from Albuquerque north over the northern mountains and into the Interstate 25 corridor to Raton. The storm finally ended following a period of blizzard conditions at Clayton and over the adjacent northeast plains. Many of the ski resort areas of the north received nearly 30 inches with Angel Fire reporting an extreme amount of 58 inches for a 48 hour storm total. The localized high winds of near 40 mph combined with 30 inches of snow to produce drifts of 9 to 12 feet across Union County and Harding Counties where widespread road closures stranded travelers and prevented ranchers from reaching cattle with feed for nearly 5 days afterwards. In one case a local ranch family hosted about 40 stranded motorists for over 48 hours in their small rural home. Travel along both Interstate 25 and Interstate 40 to the north and east of Albuquerque was plagued by extended closures as the New Year's Holiday began and then blowing snow followed the storm into New Year's Day.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 9736. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.