Winter Weather — Santa Fe Metro Area, New Mexico

2022-01-25 to 2022-01-26 · Santa Fe Metro Area, New Mexico

Event narrative

Snow across the Santa Fe area resulted in snow packed and icy roadways that made for difficult driving conditions. In the early Wednesday morning hours near San Ildefonso Pueblo, two vehicles were involved in an automobile accident. Law enforcement responded to the crash near the intersection of New Mexico State Road 30 and New Mexico State Road 502. A man in one vehicle crossed the eastbound lane, striking a woman's vehicle which was traveling in the opposite direction. The man was pronounced dead at the scene while the woman was transported to a hospital. The condition of the woman is unknown.

Wider weather episode

An upper-level storm system became organized over the Great Basin area on January 25, 2022. Meanwhile, a backdoor cold front moved westward across eastern New Mexico ahead of this system. As this winter storm tracked eastward across New Mexico through January 26th, it brought a round of snow to central and eastern portions of the state. The heaviest snow totals were measured along the east slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and adjacent highlands due to the upslope flow from the backdoor cold front. These totals were generally between 5 and 7 inches. Snow totals across other portions of the northern mountains and eastern plains were lighter and generally less than 6 inches. Snow packed and icy roadways which resulted in difficult driving conditions were common across much of the area where snow fell. Unfortunately, one indirect fatality was attributed to this system. The fatality and one injury occurred during a two-vehicle collision on icy roadways near Santa Fe. Impacts: difficult driving conditions, vehicle accidents, indirect fatality, indirect injury.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 995429. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.