A slow moving storm brought rain to lower elevations and scattered snows across the state with heavy snow of 6 to 10 inches concentrated in the high mountains between Santa Fe and Taos. Amounts of 3 to 6 inches were reported from Los Alamos north into Rio Arriba County.
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 slow moving storm brought rain to lower elevations and scattered snows across the state with heavy snow of 6 to 10 inches concentrated in the high mountains between Santa Fe and Taos. Amounts of 3 to 6 inches were reported from Los Alamos north into Rio Arriba County.
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 Dec 29, 3:06 PM MST, 5 hours 54 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 306 PM MST WED DEC 29 2004 .DISCUSSION...LATEST /18Z/ GFS AND ETA FAIRLY SIMILAR SHOWING ONE LAST SIGNIFICANT SHORT-WAVE CROSSING CENTRAL ARIZONA TONIGHT AND NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO DURING THE PRE-DAWN HOURS THURSDAY. THE 18Z ETA IS SLIGHTLY WEAKER AND FARTHER NORTH WITH THE ASSOCIATED VORTICITY MAX THAN ITS 12Z RUN...WHILE THE GFS IS SIMILAR TO ITS PREVIOUS RUN AND FARTHER SOUTH THAN THE ETA TRACKING THE VORT MAX BETWEEN FARMINGTON AND CUBA BY 12Z THU. OBVIOUSLY A MORE SOUTHERN TRACK AS INDICATED BY THE GFS WOULD BE MOST FAVORABLE. ALREADY SEEING NICE ENHANCEMENT OVER EC ARIZONA...SO PERHAPS A MORE SOUTHERLY TRACK OF THE VORT WILL VERIFY. BUT EITHER WAY...FAVORABLE POSITION OF THE UPPER LEVEL JET CORE AND OROGRAPHICS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO STRONG UVV/S ALONG THE WEST SLOPES OF THE SANGRE DE CRISTO AND ACROSS THE NORTHWEST MOUNTAINS INCLUDING THE SAN JUAN RANGE NEAR CHAMA TONIGHT INTO EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. THE BIG LIMITING FACTOR REMAINS THE LACK OF COLD AIR AND TO SOME EXTENT DEEP MOISTURE PROFILES. BOTH THE ETA AND GFS SHOW MID-LEVEL CAA INTENSIFYING ACROSS NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO THIS EVENING AND DURING THE OVERNIGHT. WHERE AS THE 12Z GFS WAS WARMER AT 700 MB VERSUS THE ETA AND RUC BETWEEN 06Z AND 12Z THURSDAY...ITS 18Z RUN IS NOW A COUPLE DEGREES COLDER THAN THE ETA DURING THAT PERIOD RANGING FROM -4 ALONG THE SANGRES TO -8 IN THE FOUR CORNERS. THIS IS A FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT SHIFT IN THE GFS...AND TO THIS FORECASTER INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF STRONG AND DEEP LAYERED UVV THAT WILL PERSIST MUCH OF THE NIGHT. THAT SAID...THIS IS GOING TO BE A HIGH ELEVATION...WEST FACING SLOPE HEAVY SNOW EVENT. THE LOWER ELEVATIONS NEAR AND BELOW 7500 FEET WHICH INCLUDES THE SANTA FE AND TAOS ARE ARE ONLY EXPECTED TO GET A COUPLE INCHES WITH A BIT MORE ALONG THE IMMEDIATE WESTERN FOOTHILLS. WILL RETOOL THE WSW TO EMPHASIZE THIS SCENARIO...SINCE TAOS SKI VALLEY AND SANTA FE ARE TECHNICALLY IN ZONE 4. BASED ON EVEN A CONSERVATIVE THICKNESS FORECAST...SNOW SHOULD ACCUMULATE ABOVE 7500 FEET. WILL TONE DOWN ACCUMULATIONS FOR THE LOWER ELEVATIONS IN THE WINTER STORM WARNING AREAS...BUT FEEL CONFIDENT THAT THE SAN JUAN AND HIGHER WEST FACING SLOPES OF THE SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS WILL GET 6-10 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF WE GET REPORT OF 15-18 INCHES ABOVE 9000 FEET NEAR THE COLORADO BORDER. REPORTS FROM SOUTHWEST COLORADO INDICATED SNOWFALL RATES OF 1-2 INCHES PER HOUR THIS AFTERNOON. CANNOT RULE OUT AN INCH OR TWO OF SLUSH BELOW 6500 FEET ACROSS THE NORTHWEST PLATEAU...UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY AS SNOW LEVELS ATTEMPT LOWER TONIGHT...BUT THE HIGHER ELEVATION COMMUNITIES ALONG THE DIVIDE AND ZUNI MOUNTAINS WILL BE THE PRIMARY FOCUS. WE/LL DROP THE NORTHWEST PLATEAU BUT KEEP THE ADVY IN EFFECT FOR THE WC MOUNTAINS AND UPPER RGV AND ADJUST AMOUNTS TO EMPHASIZE THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND/OR FOOTHILLS OF THE SANGRES. LASTLY...WIND ADVISORY TO REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAIN AND NORTHEAST THROUGH THURSDAY. BRIEF LULL IN THE WX THU MIDDAY THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING BEFORE ANOTHER WEAKER SHORT-WAVE APPROACHES FRIDAY NIGHT AND BRUSHES THE NORTH NEW YEARS DAY. NOT MUCH TIME TO LOOK BEYOND...BUT GRIDS FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK SEEM TO MESH REASONABLY WELL WITH NEIGHBORS. STILL LOTS OF UNCERTAINTY REGARDING TIMING OF ARCTIC AIR MASS IN THE EAST. KJ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FARMINGTON................ 033/045 025/047 028 41+60 GALLUP.................... 030/045 019/046 020 41960 GRANTS.................... 030/047 019/048 021 41850 GLENWOOD.................. 036/056 027/060 028 41620 CHAMA..................... 025/032 011/041 013 41+71 LOS ALAMOS................ 030/037 019/045 021 41960 RED RIVER................. 024/032 008/039 011 41971 TAOS...................... 028/042 015/046 016 41850 SANTA FE.................. 031/045 021/047 023 41850 SANTA FE AIRPORT.......... 033/048 023/048 025 41850 ESPANOLA.................. 032/049 024/052 024 41750 ALBUQUERQUE HEIGHTS....... 038/053 029/052 031 41540 ALBUQUERQUE VALLEY........ 036/054 030/053 031 41540 ALBUQUERQUE FOOTHILLS..... 037/050 027/050 029 41540 ALBUQUERQUE WEST MESA..... 037/052 029/051 030 41540 SOCORRO................... 036/056 029/058 029 41520 SANDIA PARK/CEDAR CREST... 032/047 022/045 025 41640 MORIARTY/ESTANCIA......... 030/049 022/050 022 41440 CARRIZOZO................. 037/058 028/059 029 41200 RUIDOSO................... 039/055 028/055 030 41210 RATON..................... 030/052 017/052 020 41440 LAS VEGAS................. 037/050 024/054 024 41440 ROY....................... 035/053 024/055 025 41200 CLAYTON................... 037/059 029/058 030 41200 SANTA ROSA................ 041/061 029/058 029 41200 TUCUMCARI................. 044/064 030/061 030 41200 FORT SUMNER............... 043/062 031/060 032 41200 CLOVIS.................... 043/063 032/062 034 41200 PORTALES.................. 042/064 032/063 035 41200 ROSWELL................... 042/066 032/062 032 41200 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WRNG THRU 16Z /9AM/ THU NMZ002-004 SNOW ADVY THRU 16Z /9AM/ THU NMZ003-008 WIND ADVISORY 23Z /4PM/ FRI NMZ005>007-011-012-016-017- && 41
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 600 AM MST WED DEC 29 2004 NMZ001>021-026-301300- CAPITAN/NORTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS- CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS/ESTANCIA VALLEY-CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS- CONCHAS LAKE/GUADALUPE COUNTY-CURRY COUNTY-DE BACA COUNTY- FAR NORTHEAST PLAINS-GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF CHAVES COUNTY- HARDING COUNTY-LINCOLN COUNTY HIGH PLAINS/HONDO VALLEY- LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY- MIDDLE RIO GRANDE VALLEY/ALBUQUERQUE METRO AREA-NORTHEAST HIGHLANDS- NORTHWEST MOUNTAINS INCLUDING JEMEZ-NORTHWEST PLATEAU-QUAY COUNTY- ROOSEVELT COUNTY-SANDIA/MANZANO MOUNTAINS-SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS- SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS/UPPER GILA REGION-UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY- WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS- 534 AM MST WED DEC 29 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TODAY WINTER STORM CONDITIONS EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT OVER NORTHWEST NEW MEXICO...ESPECIALLY THE WEST SLOPES OF THE SAN JUAN AND SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS. OVER A FOOT OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE ALONG THESE HIGHER WEST FACES SLOPES. SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW SHOULD ACCUMULATE ELSEWHERE OVER THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN MOUNTAINS...AND A COUPLE OF INCHES ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE NORTHWEST PLATEAU AND UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS THROUGH TONIGHT...WITH A SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE WEST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...NORTHWEST PLATEAU AND UPPER RIO GRANDE VALLEY. THE OTHER WEATHER MAKER THROUGH TONIGHT WILL BE THE WIND. SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL AVERAGE 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS AROUND 50 MPH INCLUDING THE SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...THE EAST SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...AND ACROSS NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO. A WIND ADVISORY HAS BEEN POSTED FOR THESE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A WIND ADVISORY WILL CONTINUE OVER PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO ON THURSDAY WITH STRONG WEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH AND GUSTS TO 50 MPH EXPECTED. A STRONG...COLD STORM WILL SETTLE OVER CALIFORNIA EARLY NEXT WEEK WHILE COLD AIR MOVES INTO EASTERN NEW MEXICO SUNDAY AND MONDAY. THIS COULD SET THE STAGE FOR A MESSY PRECIPITATION EVENT SUNDAY NIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK... WITH VALLEY RAIN...MOUNTAIN SNOW...AND A MIX OF RAIN...ICE AND SNOW OVER THE EASTERN PLAINS POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. 40
2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, December 2004
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: 5432310, 5432311.