A strong and moist southwest flow produced unusually heavy snowfall in the higher terrain of the Jemez mountains and southwest areas of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in Taos County. Schools and businesses were forced to close at Los Alamos where up to 18 inches of snow was recorded.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.
A strong and moist southwest flow produced unusually heavy snowfall in the higher terrain of the Jemez mountains and southwest areas of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in Taos County. Schools and businesses were forced to close at Los Alamos where up to 18 inches of snow was recorded. An extended period of snowy upslope winds then developed as the storm passed into central and northeast New Mexico. Totals included up to 24 inch amounts in the eastern Sangre de Cristo mountains while amounts of 10 to 8 inches spread east from the central highlands and Estancia Valley out onto the plains reaching Santa Rosa, Tucumcari, Roy and Clayton.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 16, 4:59 AM MST, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
459 AM MST TUE JAN 16 2001
MOST COMPLEX AND INVOLVED FORECAST FOR THIS FORECASTER FOR A FEW
WINTERS...PLUS ACTIVE WEATHER ALREADY IN THE N AND W. SO THIS WILL
HAVE TO BE BROAD BRUSHED AND BRIEF AS OTHER DUTIES AWAIT. STORM
SYSTEM ALOFT TRACKING PRETTY CLOSE TO MODEL PROGS ACCORDING TO WATER
VAPOR LOOP. HEAVIEST SNOWS LIKELY FROM SANGRES AND SANDIAS EASTWARD
INTO NE PLAINS. THIS AREA HAS BEST PEAK DYNAMICS AND DEEPEST MOISTURE
WITH AT LEAST A COUPLE OF STRONG IMPULSES EJECTING EASTWARD ACROSS
CENTRAL NM NEXT 24 HOURS. Q VECTOR CONVERGENCE AND UPPER DIFFLUENCE
ALSO PRETTY GOOD OVERLAP THESE AREAS...AIDING LIFT. SNOWS ALREADY
HAPPENING THERE. SOMEWHAT LIGHTER SNOWS...BUT STILL SNOW ADVISORY TO
LOWER LEVEL WARNING CRITERIA TO W AND SOME DISTANCE TO S. OTHER THAN
AMOUNTS AND TIMING OF IMPULSES...BIG CONCERNS INCLUDE THE STRONG
MOISTURE GRADIENT AT S. EDGE OF THE PRECIPITATION AREA AND HOW SOON
MORE MOISTURE CAN INJECT IN FROM SE. MAKES FORECAST FOR STRIP ACROSS
ROUGHLY S THIRD OF FORECAST AREA VERY TOUGH TO CALL FOR AMOUNTS AND
TO SOME DEGREE TIMING. RIO GRANDE VALLEY A BIG CASE IN POINT. UPPER
HAS WARNING...MIDDLE ADVISORY AND MARGINAL AT THAT...LOWER NOTHING.
TOUGH CALL ALSO AS TO WHERE LOWER LEVEL CONVERGENCE ZONE SETS UP
TODAY. SHOULD BE DRIVEN BACK W AND S TONIGHT. ONLY A FEW MINOR
CHANGES TO EXTENDED AS TIME DID NOT ALLOW MUCH. THANKS TO ELP OFFICE
ET AL FOR COORDINATION...AND TO MY FIC FOR HIS THOUGHTS. 43
.ABQ...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY (NMZ002-008).
...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY INTO TONIGHT (NMZ003>007-010>013
-021).
...SNOW ADVISORY TODAY (NMZ001-009).
...SNOW ADVISORY TODAY INTO TONIGHT (NMZ014).
...WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY (NMZ016>018-020).NMZ002>007-009>013-161500- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 325 AM MST TUE JAN 16 2001 ...TRAVEL BECOMING HAZARDOUS OVER NORTHCENTRAL AND NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO... CONTACTS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES SHOW THAT THE CURRENT WINTER STORM IS HAVING ADVERSE IMPACTS ON TRAVEL FROM NEW MEXICOS NORTHERN MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTHEAST QUARTER OF THE STATE. INTERSTATE 25 WAS SNOWPACKED FROM NEAR SANTA FE NORTH TO RATON PASS AS OF 245 AM AS WAS U.S. HIGHWAY 87 AND 64 FROM RATON TO THE OKLAHOMA STATE LINE. MOTORISTS WERE BECOMING STRANDED ON THESE ROUTES BECAUSE OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. TRAVEL ALONG U.S. HIGHWAY 56 FROM SPRINGER TO CLAYTON IS PROBABLY BAD AS WELL...SINCE WEATHER RADARS HAVE SHOWN BANDS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW MOVING FROM THE NORTHEAST HIGHLANDS INTO THE NORTHEAST PLAINS SINCE LATE MONDAY EVENING. INTERSTATE 40 FROM JUST EAST OF ALBUQUERQUE TO SANTA ROSA IS EITHER SNOWPACKED OR ICY BECAUSE OF RECENT SNOWFALL. INTERSTATE 40 EAST OF SANTA ROSA WAS STILL DRY AS OF 245 AM. VISIBILITY NEAR GLORIETA PASS AND PECOS WAS AS LOW AS 10 TO 15 FEET BECAUSE OF CONSIDERABLE BLOWING SNOW. ROADS LEAGDING INTO SANTA FE WERE SNOWPACKED AS OF 250 AM. U.S. HIGHWAY 550 FROM BERNALILLO TO CUBA WAS ICY AS OF 300 AM.
9 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, January 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5229850, 5229851, 5229852, 5229853, 5229854, 5229855, 5229856, 5229857, 5229858.