1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 5, 3:17 PM MST, 3 hours 43 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO-SANTA TERESA NM 317 PM MST SUN DEC 5 2004 SYNOPSIS... THE ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN CONTINUES WITH THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF STORM SYSTEMS MOVING INTO THE STATE AFTER MIDNIGHT. THIS SYSTEM WILL GENERATE NUMEROUS RAIN AND HIGHER ELEVATION SNOW SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MONDAY. HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY BE POSSIBLE IN THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS OF NEW MEXICO. DRY CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR TUESDAY. A THIRD WEAKER STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION. DRY CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR THURSDAY THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND. DISCUSSION... THE NEXT IN A SERIES OF LOW PRESSURE TROUGHS WILL MOVE TOWARD THE AREA TONIGHT AND THROUGH THE REGION TOMORROW. THE SYSTEM IS PULLING CONSIDERABLE MOISTURE UP AHEAD OF HIT THAT WILL FUEL NUMEROUS SHOWERS OVER ARIZONA AND WESTERN PARTS OF NEW MEXICO TONIGHT AND EARLY MORNING. THE SHOWERS WILL SPREAD EAST OVER THE REMAINDER OF THE REGION MONDAY. THIS SYSTEM IS MUCH COLDER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE WITH SNOW LEVELS TO DROP DOWN AS 5000 FEET AND POSSIBLY LOWER OVER NORTHERN ZONES OF THE FORECAST AREA. THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW...ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS-GILA WILDERNESS REGION WITH 4-6 INCHES POSSIBLE AT LOWER ELEVATIONS AND 6 TO 9 INCHES HIGHER UP. WITH A COLD POOL ALOFT DECENT LAPSE RATES MAY ALLOW A FEW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM THAT WILL ENHANCE PRECIPITATION RATES OF RAIN AND SNOW. WITH THAT IN MIND WILL ISSUE HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR GRANT COUNTY WITH SNOW ADVISORIES FOR SIERRA COUNTY AND SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD END LATE IN THE AFTERNOON ON MONDAY WITH CLEARING SKIES MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. ANOTHER SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE AREA WEDNESDAY. AT THIS TIME IT APPEARS TO BE A WEAKER SYSTEM WITH LIMITED MOISTURE THAT WILL GENERATE A POTENTIAL FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS FOR THE NORTHERN ZONES OF THE FORECAST AREA ON WEDNESDAY. AFTERWARDS...A DRY NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL MAINTAIN A DRY PATTERN WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY WITH GRADUALLY WARMING TEMPERATURES. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... EL PASO WU 043/050 032/055 037 35000 ALAMOGORDO WU 037/046 027/052 030 37000 LAS CRUCES WU 040/047 029/056 035 36000 CLOUDCROFT JU 029/033 018/041 021 37000 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES WU 033/045 023/054 030 47000 SILVER CITY WU 035/039 024/049 027 67000 DEMING WU 039/046 027/057 033 46000 LORDSBURG WU 038/045 029/058 033 67000 SIERRA BLANCA BU 045/052 031/055 037 34000 .ELP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NMZ 022 HEAVY SNOW WARNING TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NMZ 023 SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NMZ 025 SNOW ADVISORY MONDAY 04
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX 620 AM MST SUN DEC 05 2004 NMZ022>025-030>032-TXZ055-056-052000- EL PASO TX-HUDSPETH TX-SIERRA COUNTY LAKES REGION NM- SOUTHERN DESERT NM-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS NM- SOUTHWEST DESERT/BOOTHEEL NM-SOUTHWEST DESERT/MIMBRES BASIN NM- SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS/LOWER GILA REGION NM- TULAROSA BASIN/SOUTHERN DESERT NM- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ALAMOGORDO...ANTHONY...CANUTILLO... CHAPARRAL...DEMING...EL PASO...FABENS...FORT BLISS...HOLLOMAN AFB... LAS CRUCES...LORDSBURG...MONTANA VISTA...SAN ELIZARIO... SIERRA BLANCA...SILVER CITY...SOCORRO...SUNLAND PARK... TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES AND UNIVERSITY PARK 620 AM MST SUN DEC 05 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHCENTRAL NEW MEXICO AND FAR WEST TEXAS. .DAY ONE... SCATTERED SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP BY THIS EVENING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Six inches of snow fell overnight in the Pinos Altos area above Silver City.
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: 5432561.