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WFO Albuquerque, NM
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LAST STORM IN DECEMBER AND 2006 IS IMPRESSIVE!

The last storm of the month and 2006 was rather impressive, as it spent 3 days affecting the Land of Enchantment.  The storm system organized over southern California on the 26th, then slowly moved east into Arizona on the 27th before reaching southwest new Mexico on the 28th.  The radar image to the right and satellite images below (left panel) show show the storm on the evening of the 28th, with the deep moisture plume obvious on both radar and satellite.   By the evening of the 28th, six inches of snow was reported at Angel Fire, with lower amounts of one to two inches at Farmington, Sedillo, Gallup and Sandia Park.

 

  

 
The storm slowly moved across southern New Mexico on the 29th, then turned northeast into the Texas panhandle on the 30th and intensified.  This resulted in an increase in winds over northeast and east central New Mexico as well as a surge of moisture that wrapped around the storm.  Blizzard and near blizzard conditions were common over the far northeast on the night of the 29th and during the day on the 30th. Drifts as high as 9 feet were reported in Clayton.  The radar image to the right and satellite images below (center panel) show the main areas of snow and moisture on the evening of the 29th.  Note how the main moisture plume was in a similar location over northern New Mexico on the 28th and on the 29th.  During this period, an impressive amount of snow fell, and by the evening of the 29th snow reports of 22 inches in Red River, 17 inches in Gascon, 15 inches in Edgewood, 12 to 20 inches in and around Santa Fe and 8 to 10 inches across Albuquerque were received.    

 
 
On the 30th, the upper level low continued to move only slow to the east. Widespread snow persisted overnight on the 29th and through much of the day on the 30th. The IR imagery below illustrates how the circulation changed over the three days as the upper low drifted from southwest New Mexico to western Texas. Note that portions of New Mexico were affected by the storm over the three day period. The tables below show some of the snowfall totals through the morning of the 30th (watch for these totals to increase), as well as the peak wind gusts over the east on the evening of the 29th. Check our Public Information Statements (PNS) for additional snow reports.
 

Location Storm Total Snowfall (Inches)
Red River 31
15 S Angel Fire 27
Eagle Nest 24
Santa Fe 27
Sandia Heights (Albuquerque Foothills) 26
Pena Blanca 30
Cuba 24
Clayton 30
5 W Edgewood 18
Sandia Park 18
1 NE Moriarty 15
Location Highest Sustained (mph) Peak Wind Gust (mph)
Clayton 37 50
Carlsbad 39 47
Clovis 35 46
Raton 44 58
Tucumcari 28 37
Las Vegas 32 40
   
The images below were taken on the morning of December 30th. On the left, trucks are lined up at the exit of Juan Tabo and Interstate 40. On the right, the National Weather Service had received 11 inches of snow by morning.