Happy storm ski Thursday!

Overnight Wednesday, during the warmest phase of this storm cycle, we hoped for 2-6" of heavy wet snow and that is about what happened. Here are the totals as of 7 am Thursday:

• 5” Taos
• 4" Ski Apache (estimate)
• 3” Ski Santa Fe 
• 2” Angel Fire
• 2” Pajarito 
• 2" Sandia Peak (estimate)
• 1” Sipapu 
• 1” Red River

This overnight snow will not only tee up fun surfy turns on groomers and north-facing not-so-bumped-out terrain Thursday morning, but more importantly, it will also serve as the soft foundation for the deeper snow totals incoming.

On Thursday morning, radar shows snow in western New Mexico and heading to the central mountains, and also shows the northeast winds starting to crank out snow over Cuchara. 

By mid-morning Thursday the next wave of snow should be nicely set up over all mountains. Here is the forecast radar for 11 am showing snow across the Sangres and lighter snow showers over the Jemez.

The arriving cold front from the east and winds from the north should keep snow cranking through the afternoon. Here is the 3 pm Thursday predictive radar.

The Sangres will be favored for the deepest totals thanks to the cold front from the east and the convergence of storm energy along the central mountain chain. Here is the NWS global compilation from Thursday morning through Friday.

Bottom Line

• Thursday morning should offer surfy turns on 1-6+" of dense snow from Wednesday overnight.
• Storm skiing all day Thursday with free refills likely. Winds should not be an issue on Thursday or Friday which is a welcome change from previous storms.
• Friday should be one of the powder days of the year with epic leftovers and rope drops over the weekend.
• We are on track to achieve my original snowfall forecasts from Wednesday night through Friday for each mountain in alphabetical order:
  • 8-14" Angel Fire (2" so far)
  • 6-12" Pajarito (2" so far)
  • 8-14" Red River (1" so far)
  • 4-8" Sandia Peak (2" so far)
  • 8-14" Sipapu (1" so far)
  • 4-8" Ski Apache (4" so far)
  • 12-18" Ski Santa Fe (3" so far)
  • 14-20" Taos (5" so far)

Thursday should be one hell of a storm ski ride! I will post another storm update Thursday night or definitely Friday morning.

¡Viva la nieve!

JULIEN ROSS
[email protected]

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)