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 Feb 4, 2:53 AM MST, 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO-SANTA TERESA NM 253 AM MST WED FEB 4 2004 SYNOPSIS... A WINTER STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO GENERATE SCATTERED MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS AND AN INTERMITTENT MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS TODAY AND TONIGHT. SNOWFALL WILL CONTINUE TO BE HEAVY AT TIMES IN THE MOUNTAINS TODAY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. SKIES WILL CLEAR FRIDAY AS THE SYSTEM MOVES OFF TO THE EAST. ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE AREA SATURDAY AND SHOULD PASS BY TO THE NORTH. A COOLER BUT MOSTLY DRY PATTERN EXPECTED NEXT WEEK. DISCUSSION... WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATES SCATTERED AND MAINLY LIGHT SHOWERS CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA EARLY THIS MORNING. LOWER ELEVATIONS HAVE RECORDED LIGHT AMOUNTS OF RAIN AS TEMPERATURES HAVE REMAINED ABOVE FREEZING. MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS HAVE REPORTED SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES IN THE SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS. SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES SOME ENHANCED CLOUD TOPS APPROACHING THE SILVER CITY AREA THAT MAY BRING MORE SNOW TO THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS THIS MORNING. IN THE EL PASO AREA...SNOW FLURRIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED ON TRANS MOUNTAIN ROAD IN THE FRANKLIN MOUNTAINS AND IN THE HUECO MOUNTAINS EAST OF THE CITY WITH OTHER AREAS SEEING SPRINKLES AND LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS. SCATTERED MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS AND ISOLATED LOWLAND RAIN SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TODAY AS THE BROAD TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE REMAINS OVER THE AREA. WHILE MAIN ENERGY AND DYNAMICS FROM THE LOW WILL LIFT OUT OF THE REGION. PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND UNSTABLE LAPSE RATES RESULTING FROM THE COLD POOL ALOFT WILL KEEP THE SHOWERS GOING THROUGH THE DAY. BEST CHANCE OF PRECIP REMAINS OVER THE MOUNTAIN ZONES WITH SNOW LEVEL AROUND 5000 TO 5500 FEET WITH SEVERAL INCHES ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATION POSSIBLE. LOWLAND TEMPERATURES SHOULD REMAIN TOO WARM FOR ANY ACCUMULATING SNOW WITH SOME RAIN-SNOW MIX POSSIBLE FOR SOME AREAS AND THE REST OF THE DESERT LOWLANDS SEEING LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS. THE CONVECTIVE NATURE OF THESE SHOWERS MAY SEE SOME BURSTS OF HEAVY SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS FOR BRIEF PERIODS OF TIME. HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR MOUNTAIN ZONES 22 AND 25 SHOULD REMAIN IN PLACE. WARMER DAYTIME TEMPERATURES OVER THE LOWLANDS WILL REQUIRE CANCELLATION OF SNOW ADVISORY OVER AFFECTED LOWLAND ZONES. SECONDARY VORT MAXES ROTATING AROUND THE BASE OF THE LOW PRESSURE TROUGH WILL KEEP A MINIMAL CHANCE OF PRECIP IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. SHOWERS SHOULD BE LIGHT AND WITH LITTLE ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FOR THE MOUNTAINS. PRECIP CHANCES END LATE THURSDAY NIGHT AS THE TROUGH SHIFTS EAST. ANOTHER TROUGH WILL APPROACH THE AREA SATURDAY BUT SHOULD PASS TO THE NORTH OF THE FORECAST AREA WITH MAINLY BREEZY CONDITIONS AND NO PRECIP POSSIBLE. ON SUNDAY PART OF THE TROUGH LOOKS TO SPLIT OFF AN DROP DOWN OVER ARIZONA AS THE RIDGE AMPLIFIES OVER THE WEST COAST. IF THAT COMES TO PASS A COLD WEATHER PATTERN WILL OCCUR OVER THE FORECAST AREA FOR THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... EL PASO EB 050/032 047/028 050 21100 ALAMOGORDO BB 046/030 042/026 045 21200 LAS CRUCES EB 050/031 046/027 049 21100 CLOUDCROFT BB 032/013 029/011 032 43210 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES EB 046/028 042/024 045 21210 SILVER CITY EB 039/021 034/019 037 33210 DEMING EB 049/030 045/026 048 21100 LORDSBURG EB 047/030 043/026 046 21100 SIERRA BLANCA EB 048/032 044/028 047 20100 .ELP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...HEAVY SNOW WRNG NMZ022-025 04
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX 555 AM MST TUE FEB 03 2004 NMZ022>025-030>032-TXZ055-056-031800- EL PASO TX-HUDSPETH TX-SIERRA COUNTY LAKES REGION NM- SOUTHERN DESERT NM-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS NM- SOUTHWEST DESERT/MIMBRES BASIN NM-SOUTHWEST DESSERT/BOOTHEEL NM- SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS/LOWER GILA REGION NM- TULAROSA BASIN/SOUTHERN DESERT NM- 555 AM MST TUE FEB 03 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHCENTRAL NEW MEXICO AND FAR WEST TEXAS. .DAY ONE... A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO AND WESTERN TEXAS TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE 4 TO 7 INCHES OF SNOW OVER MOUNTAIN AREAS ABOVE 6500 BY NOON WEDNESDAY. RAIN SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING ACROSS THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WITH THE RAIN MIXING WITH OR CHANGING TO SNOW OVER THE DESERTS AND LOWLANDS AROUND MIDNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM 1 TO 3 INCHES OVER SOME OF THE LOWER ELEVATIONS...MAINLY NORTH OF LAS CRUCES. HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED DUE TO SLIPPERY ROADS AND LOW VISIBILITIES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... AN UPPER DISTURBANCE WILL BRING A FURTHER THREAT OF SNOW THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. MOUNTAINS AREAS MAY RECEIVE UP TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW ABOVE 7000 FEET WITH AN INCH OF SNOW POSSIBLE OVER A FEW LOCATIONS IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
6 to 8 inches of snow fell between Cloudcroft and Mescalero within a 10 hour period.
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, February 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: 5386893.