New Mexico digs out
Up to 10 inches of snow falls on Duke City, delighting skiers and frustrating drivers
New Mexicans spent Saturday digging out from a winter storm that dumped up to 10 inches of snow in Albuquerque, halted air traffic, and left vehicles stranded along streets and highways across the state.
But it delighted skiers and snow revelers, who headed for the mountains in droves.
“Nothing like 15 inches of snow to bring the locals out,” said Brian Coon, operations manager of Sandia Peak Ski Area, where hundreds of eager skiers and snowboarders lined up at the lifts.
“The skiing is as good here as it was in Angel Fire last week,” said Rick Barker of Santa Fe moments after he finished a run at Sandia Peak and lined up at the lift for another.
The heavy snowfall caused plenty of work for residents forced to excavate driveways Saturday and harrowing moments for drivers navigating snow-packed roads, particularly at higher elevations.
“The snow is pretty deep out here,” said Sandia Park homeowner Gene Whipple as he shoveled his driveway on Frost Road. “If you live back a ways from the road, you’re probably not going to work.”
As much as 10 inches of snow fell on the Duke City from Thursday through Saturday morning alone, according to the National Weather Service, leaving the city caked in more snow than it’s seen since it was walloped by a 2006 storm.
It was the ninth-largest, two-day snowfall total in city history, and
made last month the second-snowiest February ever, the Weather Service said.
Albuquerque police reported more than 370 crashes occurred from Friday to Saturday afternoon, with many drivers left stranded overnight as roads from the city to Rio Rancho and the East Mountains were too slick to drive.
Barricades were placed on southbound N.M. 528 near Westside to stop drivers from sliding down the steep hill to Albuquerque. Several motorists moved the barricades Saturday morning and tried their luck, but then needed to be rescued, Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Tanner Tixier said. The roadway was reopened around noon.
At the airport, most flights on Saturday were canceled due to the wintry weather here and in other cities, including all Southwest Airlines flights. The University of New Mexico also canceled classes Saturday, and the city closed all libraries, the Albuquerque BioPark, Albuquerque Museum and the balloon museum.
“We’re right up there as far as significant snow totals,” said Jason Frazier, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.
Snow totals in the Duke City were the largest seen since 2006, when a storm dropped about 16 inches over three days. There have also been a handful of storms that dropped 11 inches of snow and one in the 1950s carried 14 inches of snow, he said.
Frazier said an additional mix of rain and snow is possible in Albuquerque today and Monday, and the agency warns that bitter cold will arrive in the state by Wednesday.
The winter blast also provided needed moisture for a parched state.
Frazier said the storm returned snowpack levels around the state to normal or above normal and the snow will likely hold until the spring. That helps to stave off fire season and fill reservoirs, though it won’t reverse a drought affecting the state, he said.
And the fresh powder made for better skiing. Sandia Peak Ski Area got 13 inches of new snow overnight, while Ski Santa Fe got 11 inches. Taos Ski Valley reported 3 feet of snow since Friday morning and Angel Fire on Saturday reported 13 inches overnight, according to the ski areas’ websites.
There were other impressive snow totals in other parts of New Mexico by Saturday morning: Santa Fe was hit with 7 inches of snow in places, Los Alamos saw 11 inches, Jemez Springs got 10 inches, San Juan County had up to 7 inches in places and Gallup reported 5 inches, the Weather Service reported.
The storm forced some city of Albuquerque employees to work at a frenetic pace from rush hour Friday to about noon Saturday.
Albuquerque used its seldom-used snow plows to work on the roads. The city normally just uses salt after an inch or two of snow, but overnight there were as many as 29 dump trucks armed with plows working the streets, said Mark Motsko, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Municipal Development.
“The front came in and just dumped citywide. Everywhere was getting hit,” he said. “We just couldn’t keep up.”
Crews at the Albuquerque International Sunport worked throughout the night to keep the runways operational, but bad weather elsewhere grounded many flights, said Rebecca Stansifer, the airport operations officer. She said the airport required mandatory overtime Friday night and employees worked on snow removal around the clock.
Some areas still presented difficult driving conditions because of snow-packed or icy roadways, the state Department of Transportation reported early Saturday — areas that included Interstate 25 between Rowe and Raton, U.S. 64 from Agua Fria to Clayton, and 70 miles along I-40 between Clines Corners and Newkirk.
Indeed, tow truck operators were busy Saturday removing vehicles that drivers had abandoned on the roadside Friday night and early Saturday.
Rick Davis, owner of Davis True Value Hardware in Cedar Crest, relied on his Chevy pickup equipped with a plow and tire chains to get to work Saturday. “I had to plow our road to get here,” said Davis, who also found a car half buried in snow abandoned in front of his house that morning.
Gilbert Gurule and his family joined about 50 people Saturday at the Capulin Snow Play Area in the Sandia Mountains to sled and tube in near ideal snow conditions. Gurule and others ignored a locked gate and a “closed” sign at the entrance to the area, which is maintained by the U.S. Forest Service. “I was disappointed the gate wasn’t open,” he said. Gurule said his 6-year-old son was tired by the time they finished the quarter-mile walk to the sledding area. “It was a pretty long trek for my little man.”