November 2 – Santa Fe will receive its first snowfall of the season this weekend. This starts on Sunday evening and lasts until Monday, with the worst snowfall on Monday morning.
After everything clears on Tuesday, another, possibly more severe storm is forecast to hit the area late Thursday afternoon and evening.
It’s expected to start Sunday night with low temperatures and heavy precipitation, leading into Monday morning. According to the National Weather Service, it will be 33 degrees at 8 a.m. and there will be a lot of snow.
“Don’t expect too much accumulation initially,” said Andrew Church, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.
“But if things get a little heavier Monday morning, Santa Fe’s higher elevations could potentially see accumulation of several inches,” he added, pointing to lawns, parks and roads as potential targets for accumulation.
The storm will target higher elevations with light to moderate snowfall impacting road conditions, with lower elevation areas affected by negligible snowfall and road impacts. According to a briefing from the National Weather Service, snow is expected to fall as high as 7,000 feet (Santa Fe is at just over 7,000 feet), but it could also fall as low as 5,000 feet.
‘A cold front is moving through the back door to the northeast [New Mexico] Snow and drifting snow may occur Sunday night in areas as far south as the [Interstate 40] corridor… Temperatures will be sufficiently cold enough in the higher terrain on Sunday night and Monday for slippery and dangerous travel, especially above 2,000 meters, the briefing said.
Hyde Park Road, which leads to the Santa Fe Ski Area, will be particularly hard hit and may receive more than a foot of snow, Church said.
“There will probably be a lot of people looking at the fresh snow. We just ask them to take it easy and be careful,” he said.
The snow from this storm will have mostly melted by sunny Tuesday morning, bringing warmer temperatures with a high of 48 degrees, but the snow will return even heavier on Thursday, Church said, with even colder air and possibly greater snowfall than Sunday. – Monday storm.
On Thursday, winds will increase to a steady maximum speed of 17 mph and temperatures will hover around 35 degrees. High rainfall amounts and prolonged low temperatures mean persistent snowfall is forecast until Friday afternoon.
“Especially late Thursday afternoon and evening, if we get heavy snow quickly, we could potentially see a more impactful storm,” he said.
