Heavy snow of 6 to 12 inches was reported across west central and north central New Mexico.
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.
Heavy snow of 6 to 12 inches was reported across west central and north central New Mexico.
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 Feb 3, 8:02 PM MST, 6 hours 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 802 PM MST TUE FEB 3 2004 .UPDATE...SNOW HAS BEEN MOST PREVALENT ACROSS THE NORTHWEST PLATEAU AND NORTHERN MOUNTAINS THUS FAR TONIGHT. SNOW FINALLY GOT STARTED IN KSAF AND KRTN. SATELLITE/RADAR TRENDS SHOW DRY SLOT WORKED INTO MUCH OF SOUTHERN HALF OF STATE. FIRST INCLINATION WAS TO DROP SOME HEADLINES AS MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS DISCUSSION. HOWEVER JET MAX ROUNDING BASE OF TROUGH HAS GENERATED SOME CONVECTIVE SNOW SHOWERS IN SOUTH CENTRAL. LATEST MODEL RUNS CONCUR WITH UP TO THE MINUTE SATELLITE TRENDS IN THAT THEY SHOW MORE DEVELOPMENT FROM SOUTH CENTRAL INTO NORTHEAST LATER THIS EVENING. IN ADDITION...NEW CONVECTION NEAR LOW CENTER OVER WC ARIZONA SHOULD WRAP AROUND INTO WESTERN AREAS LATE TONIGHT. CONVECTION COULD RESULT IN SCATTERED SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS ALTHOUGH PERHAPS NOT AS WIDESPREAD AS EARLIER ANTICIPATED. SO...WILL KEEP HEADLINES AS IS. SOME AMOUNTS MAY NOT BE QUITE UP TO CURRENT FORECAST SO MAY ADJUST ADVISORY NUMBERS SLIGHTLY WITH 10 PM ISSUANCE BUT DO NOT PLAN ON ISSUING ZONE FORECAST UPDATE. WILL WEIGH NEW GFS WHEN IT COMES IN AND BEGIN SORTING OUT HOW MUCH SNOW WILL BE LEFT TO FALL WEDNESDAY AND WILL ADJUST HEADLINES AT 4 AM ISSUANCE...KD && .DISCUSSION...300 PM MST TUE FEB 3 2004 TIME TIGHT WITH SIGNIFICANT EDITING NEEDED FOR ZONES TEXT. SLIGHTLY MORE NORTHERLY TRACK OF SYSTEM MAIN REASON FOR DOING SOME SLIGHT DOWNWARD TWEAKING OF FORECAST SNOW AMOUNTS MOST ZONES EXCEPT W CENTRAL...NW AND N CENTRAL. RADAR TRENDS SRN AND SE AZ NOT AS IMPRESSIVE AS WOULD HAVE HOPED BEING OTHER...AND RELATED REASON. STILL DYNAMICALLY STRONG AND MOIST SYSTEM THOUGH. HAVE ALSO SLICED A FEW HOURS OFF EVENT END TIMES MOST OF CENTRAL ZONES. EXPECT MAIN BRUNT OF PCPN THROUGH CENTRAL VALLEYS BETWEEN 5 PM AND MIDNIGHT...OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER...AS DRY SLOTTING TO FOLLOW BEHIND FRONTAL PASSAGE. SOME WRAP AROUND W AND N WED. THOUGHT OF DROPPING ZONES 15...17 FROM ADVISORY DUE TO ABOVE REASONS...ALSO CONSIDERED DOWNGRADING ZONE 6 TO ADVISORY. AMOUNTS HAVE BEEN DROPPED TO JUST BELOW THE RESPECTIVE THRESHOLDS THESE AREAS...BUT CLOSE ENOUGH TO LET EVE SHIFT CONSIDER TRENDS AND DROP IF CONSIDERED NECESSARY. FUTURE SYSTEMS...LATE WED NIGHT/THU AND WEEKEND...LOOKING WEAKER AND FARTHER NORTH RESPECTIVELY. ADJUSTED APPROPRIATELY TO ACCOUNT FOR THESE TRENDS AS QUICK LOOK AT SOME 18Z MODEL RUNS SUPPORT 12Z RUNS FOR THE MOST PART...43 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING NMZ 002-004 THRU WED MORNING... SNOW ADVISORY NMZ 001-008-014 THROUGH TONIGHT... SNOW ADVISORY NMZ 003-009-015 THROUGH TONIGHT... SNOW ADVISORY NMZ 010-011-017 THROUGH WED MORNING... WINTER STORM WARNING NMZ 005>007 THROUGH WED... && 19
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 600 AM MST TUE FEB 3 2004 NMZ001>021-041300- CAPITAN/NORTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS- CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS/ESTANCIA VALLEY-CHAVES COUNTY PLAINS- CONCHAS LAKE/GUADALUPE COUNTY-CURRY COUNTY-DE BACA COUNTY- FAR NORTHEAST PLAINS-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- WESTCENTRAL MOUNTAINS- 600 AM MST TUE FEB 3 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TODAY WINTER STORM CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TODAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL WILL BE FOUND ACROSS THE NORTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AS WELL AS LOCALIZED AREAS ACROSS THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. OTHERWISE LOOK FOR SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MOST PLACES ACROSS THE WEST AND NORTH TONIGHT. WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES ARE OUT FOR THIS EVENT SO PLEASE CHECK THOSE LATEST WINTER STATEMENTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... STORM SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE STATE ON WEDNESDAY. FAVORED AREAS WILL BE THE NORTHEAST WHERE A WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED. ANOTHER SYSTEM WILL DROP DOWN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND AFFECT THE STATE INTO THURSDAY. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WONT BE QUITE AS SIGNIFICANT WITH THIS SYSTEM AS EXPECTED WITH THE UPCOMING ONE. UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL REMAIN OVER THE WEEKEND WITH ANOTHER STORM POTENTIALLY PROVIDING MORE SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ACROSS NORTH AND CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE STATE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
5 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 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: 5386638, 5386639, 5388452, 5388453, 5388454.