New Mexico Daily Snow

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By Julien Ross, Forecaster Posted 1 year ago December 4, 2022

Four Corners special Tues-Weds, modest snow for New Mexico

Summary

Windy, cool, and cloudy conditions will persist in the northern mountains Sunday and Monday. Late Tuesday through Wednesday a Four Corners storm will bring light snow to the northern mountains with much deeper totals at Wolf Creek and the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado.

Update

On Sunday morning, a swath of rain continues across the central mountains and this will continue through the day Sunday.

On Saturday evening the moisture tried to push north and we saw a light drizzle of rain in town in Santa Fe but that was about it. Ski Santa Fe awoke to some white-frosted trees and chairlifts which made for a pretty and festive early morning scene.

Sandia Peak picked up a bit of snow overnight where moisture was more abundant.

For the rest of Sunday and Monday, we will see more breezy conditions with high clouds and cool temperatures in the northern mountains. 

While we aren't seeing a lot of fresh natural snow to kick off December, that didn't stop New Mexico shredders from getting out on Saturday and ripping some turns at Sipapu where they are now open top to bottom.

Also on Saturday, Taos opened Lift 2 accessing Bambi from top to bottom!

Looking ahead, our next storm is currently positioned off the coast of northern California.

By late Tuesday into Wednesday, this system will drop down into the Great Basin of Nevada and push storm energy and moisture into the Four Corners with a steady dose of southwest flow that will favor southwestern Colorado.

For the Land of Enchantment, the current best estimate is 2-6" at Taos Ski Valley by close of business Wednesday. Expect storm-skiing conditions on Wednesday with blowing snow and highs in the low 20's.

I think we will see about half this amount of snow for Ski Santa Fe and Sipapu which are further south and a little further away from the storm energy crossing the northwest quadrant of the state.

Wolf Creek, on the other hand, will be in the sweet spot for fresh snow Tuesday and Wednesday.

If you have to choose which day to chase, Wednesday will probably be the best day with snow from the previous 24 hours to soften things up and ongoing storm skiing and free refills on Wednesday.

After this mid-week storm, we should see dry and cold conditions on Thursday and into the weekend.

Thanks for reading and I will check back in on Monday to see how the Four Corners special storm is shaping up and take a look at the extended forecast into mid-December.

JULIEN ROSS
[email protected]

Announcements

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: OPEN
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)

About Our Forecaster

Julien Ross

Forecaster

Julien was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico and was introduced to skiing at age 7 through the public schools subsidized ski program at Ski Santa Fe. It was love at first turn and Julien has been chasing deep powder and good mogul lines ever since. Julien grew up fascinated by weather and studied physical geography with a focus on meteorology at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.

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