Rise and shine Nuevo México, it's another powder day in paradise!

The Sangre de Cristos scored big on Thursday. Here are the storm totals so far as of 7 am Friday, with overnight Wednesday + Thursday in parenthesis:

• 21” Taos (5" + 16”)
• 21” Sipapu (1" + 20")
• 17” Angel Fire (2" + 15")
• 15” Red River (1" + 14")
• 14” Ski Santa Fe (3" + 11)
• 8" Ski Apache (5" + 3" estimate)
• 5” Pajarito (2" + 3")
• 5" Sandia Peak (2" + 3" estimate)

The heaviest period of snow was late afternoon through about midnight when the cold front from the east converged with storm energy from the west and a strong stationary snow band set up over the Sangres. Sipapu and Taos happen to be in the sweetest convergence zone overnight.

Watching the timelapse of Taos Poco Cam on repeat is like being a kid peering through the window of a candy shop that is about to open (by the way you can find this tool on OpenSnow's cams).

Now on Friday, temperatures are in the high single digits and low teens across the Sangre de Cristos and Jemez thanks to the cold front.

A final wave of snow showers with this storm cycle will hang around on Friday. Light snow is already popping up on radar as of 7 am and falling at many mountains.

This was a right-side-up storm just the way we like it. The snow that fell late Thursday was fluffy and any snow overnight and now on Friday will be blower.

We can expect 1-5" of additional accumulation on Friday, low amounts of liquid but with very high snow ratios.

Bottom Line

• Friday should be one of the powder days of the year with blower fluff on top of soft.
• There was very little wind with this storm which is a welcome change from the last few cycles. Snow quality should be perfect on Friday.
• Excellent leftovers and rope drops over the weekend.
• I will do a final storm recap on Saturday so please send pics and videos of your storm cycle stoke!

All aboard the storm train!

March continues to deliver with basically five straight days of snow coming up, the best storm being in the March 21-23 timeframe.

I will post a storm recap on Saturday and a look ahead at next week's storm.

¡Viva la nieve!

JULIEN ROSS
[email protected]

Taos Avalanche Center for all of your backcountry forecasts

Always consult TAC for latest avalanche forecasts!

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)