On Saturday morning, a plume of moisture is crossing southern Arizona on its way to New Mexico.

This system will bring a solid round of precipitation in the form of rain to the Gila Mountains in western New Mexico and to the central mountains. 

Temperatures will be too warm for snow. The exception could be Ski Santa Fe and possibly the northern Sangres where some light snow flurries late Saturday into Sunday could bring a dusting of snow.

For the northern mountains, cool and windy conditions with isolated snow flurries will persist through Monday before our next storm arrives in the region on Tuesday.

Models are coming into agreement that a storm will drop down from the Great Basin of Nevada late Tuesday and through Wednesday. This will produce storm energy and precipitation directed across the Four Corners favoring Wolf Creek and the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.

There could be some stalling of the storm on Wednesday which would prolong the precipitation event for the Four Corners into Thursday morning.

If the current forecast pattern holds up, the Jemez and Sangre de Cristos would be outside of the sweet spot for this storm but should see at least some light snow totals. Taos Ski Valley would be favored with southwest winds and being located further north closest to the storm energy cutting across northwestern New Mexico.

The chase should definitely be on for Wolf Creek Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Thanks for reading! I will post again on Sunday.

JULIEN ROSS
[email protected]

Taos Avalanche Center Fundraiser in Santa Fe, December 7th

OpenSnow is proud to sponsor this upcoming event to support Taos Avalanche Center (TAC) on December 7th at Tumbleroot Brewery in Santa Fe. Social hour starts at 6pm followed by a viewing of Spirit of the Peaks at 7pm. There is a suggested donation of $10 directly to TAC. TAC is the only avalanche center in NM and the goal is to raise money to fund future forecasts and expand forecasts to the Santa Fe area. 

Opening Dates (consult with resort website and social media for latest updates)

→ Sipapu: OPEN
→ Red River: OPEN
→ Ski Santa Fe: OPEN
→ Taos: OPEN
→ Ski Apache: November 26
→ Angel Fire: December 16
→ Pajarito: TBD

New Mexico Geography Key

Northern Mountains
→ Red River, Taos Ski Valley (north side of northern mountains - Sangre de Cristos)
→ Angel Fire (northeast side of northern mountains - Sangre de Cristos)
→ Sipapu (middle of the northern mountains - Sangre de Cristos)
→ Ski Santa Fe (south side of the northern mountains - Sangre de Cristos)
→ Pajarito (southwest side of the northern mountains - Jemez)

Central Mountains
→ Sandia Peak (Sandias)
→ Mt. Taylor backcountry (San Mateos)

Southern Mountains
→ Ski Apache (Sacramentos)
→ Ski Cloudcroft (Sacramentos)