Taos weathers high winds
Last Wednesday’s (Feb. 22) windstorm left Northern New Mexico shaken, with 12,450 homes across the state left without power, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Around 7,000 homes in Albuquerque were without electricity; nearly 2,000 in Las Vegas; 1,100 in Deming; and 500 in Santa Fe.
Taos, on the other hand, had only eight minor outages, according to Kit Carson Electric Cooperative CEO Luis Reyes.
When Taos was ravaged by an even stronger windstorm in December 2021, many were without power for several days. Since then, Reyes said, Kit Carson made concerted efforts to prepare for other severe weather events.
“We put plans together,” Reyes said, “and I think, like any organization, you put a plan together and what we have done is we have assessed how we addressed the outages. So, you do an after-event analysis of your response, and I think part of what Kit Carson’s trying to do is every time we have a major event, we try to refine and make sure that the next time, everything’s a little bit better.”
Over the past year, Reyes and his team at Kit Carson have been cracking down on tree trimming and “customer education,” both of which prepared Taos for this past week’s storm. By staying current on tree trimming, the chances of trees interfering with power lines was greatly decreased. As for public education, Kit Carson’s Consumer Advisory Committee would hold public meetings and talk about what causes outages — and what people can do to be prepared.
Along those same lines, Kit Carson’s efforts to improve communication to customers during bad weather events were clear last week, with multiple text message updates sent throughout the day and Reyes himself providing email updates to public officials and the Taos News as to outages and the status of the storm.
Reyes also mentioned the idea of burying power lines or installing backup batteries to remotely activate power lines, so that in the event of a storm, if a power line is blown over, it can be shut off and prevent a possible fire or injury, although he said this project requires further environmental studies.
Particularly, Reyes said the focus of these future efforts would center on the areas of the county determined at the greatest risk for extreme wildfires.
He said he and KCEC have discussed those areas with J.R. Logan, a former Taos News reporter who now serves as the Taos County Forest and Watershed Health Program manager. At the Taos County Com
mission’s Jan. 24 regular meeting, Logan presented a list of the 10 communities most at risk for catastrophic fire, the top four of which were El Salto, Shady Brook/Taos Canyon, Cabresto Canyon and the Village of Taos Ski Valley.
“We are analyzing areas that may be of high fire danger,” Reyes told the Taos News. “These would be potential candidates to go underground, but there’s nothing for sure because a lot of the areas that people would want to go underground are generally in the Carson. They may require additional studies ... any time we work in the Carson, you have to get an environmental study, but we are looking at that.”
Reyes reiterated that “additional storage,” in the form of batteries, could be the best option.
Recalling the 2021 weather event, Reyes noted that, despite living in Taos his whole life, he had never seen a storm like it.
“If that’s going to be the norm,” Reyes said, “we have to really look at how, as a community, we’re going to address extreme weather — everything from electricity issues to the safety of employees out there sweeping snow and doing work.”
County emergency response
Roadway visibility was extremely limited as the winds picked up snow from the mountains, and police scanners were alive with numerous automobile incidents.
According to Taos Police Chief John Wentz, there were five crashes within town limits that officers responded to. Taos County Undersheriff Jerry Hogrefe noted eight more crashes throughout the county that deputies responded to, adding that at one point, there were four crashes in different parts of the county within a 30-minute time frame, spreading his deputies thin. Three crashes in Taos County were handled by New Mexico State Police, according to a spokesperson for New Mexico State Police.
Road conditions impaired response time, but according to Hogrefe, there were only two minor injuries that day relating to automobile crashes. Despite being very busy, law enforcement agencies were anticipating the storm before it descended on the county, but Hogrefe said managing extreme weather remains a logistical challenge for county and local law enforcement.
“We always expect that [it] could happen,” Hogrefe said, “but with resources limited, the problem is deputies get tied-up on crashes, and then we have another type of urgent call coming in, and we don’t have anybody left to go handle it.”
Winds on Wednesday reached highs up to 80 mph, which is within the range of a category one hurricane, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Average wind speeds came in at 50 to 70 mph, and while Taos experienced a thick cloud of snow, southern regions of the state saw dust.
The Taos Ski Valley saw the effects of the storm especially: Every ski lift in the valley being closed due to avalanche warnings. One avalanche was reported in the valley on Twining Road, with no injuries or households affected, according to Taos Ski Valley Inc. CEO Dave Norden.
In response to weather conditions, multiple schools announced closures the following Thursday, including UNM–Taos, Taos Municipal Schools, Taos Integrated School of the Arts, Taos Charter School, Vista Grande High School and Anansi Charter School.
A travel advisory was released on the day of the storm, informing locals of the soon-to-come road conditions and the closure of US 64 from Tres Piedras to Tierra Amarilla. Later, NM 518 also experienced closures near Sipapu Ski and Summer Resort.