A deep upper trough moved across NM from west to east while a strong back door cold front pushed westward from the NM plains across the central mountain chain and beyond the Rio Grande. This combination resulted in heavy snow mainly in the mountains, especially the eastern slopes of the Sacramento range.
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 EPZ wrote it up.
A deep upper trough moved across NM from west to east while a strong back door cold front pushed westward from the NM plains across the central mountain chain and beyond the Rio Grande. This combination resulted in heavy snow mainly in the mountains, especially the eastern slopes of the Sacramento range. Six to eight inches fell overnight in the Cloudcroft area, with greater amounts in the favored upslope region to the east.
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 19, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX/SANTA TERESA NM 230 PM MST TUE DEC 19 2006 .SYNOPSIS... A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM IS APPROACHING THE REGION FROM THE WEST. A COLD FRONT HAS SPREAD COLD AIR OVER THE BORDERLAND FROM THE EAST. PLENTY OF LOW AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE NOW HANGS OVER THE AREA. AS THE SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME QUITE UNSTABLE PRODUCING LOWLAND RAIN SHOWERS AND MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS. A PACIFIC COLD FRONT WILL PUSH IN TONIGHT AND CREATE BREEZY WEST WINDS. LATE TONIGHT THE SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER AND THE DESERT FLOOR WILL SEE A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW. SOUTHERN LOWLANDS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO GET ANY ACCUMULATIONS. TRAVELERS SHOULD USE CAUTION DUE TO WET ROADWAYS. THE STORM SYSTEM WILL EXIT THE AREA TOMORROW. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN COOL THROUGH THE WEEK. ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL DIVE OVER THE AREA LATE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. THIS STORM WILL BRING A POTENTIAL FOR SNOW ACROSS THE REGION. && .DISCUSSION... UPPER LOW SPINS OVER SW ARIZONA. PLENTY OF COOL SURFACE AIR IN PLACE BEHIND YESTERDAYS COLD FRONT. BUT IT IS NOT COLD ENOUGH FOR LOWLAND SNOW. VERY COLD TEMPS ALOFT COMING INTO THE CWFA WITH THE LOW IS CREATING AN UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE WHICH IS MOVING IN FROM THE WEST. A WIDE BAND OF PCPN IS ORIENTED SW TO NE ACROSS THE CENTRAL CWFA. ITS BEEN A RA/SN MIX NORTH...RA/IP SOUTH. OUT WEST THE PAC FRONT HAS BEGUN TO PUSH EAST ACROSS THE CWFA. WESTERLY SHIFT IN WINDS AND A DROP IN DEWPOINTS IS ACCOMPANYING. THE UPPER LOW IS SUPPOSED TO BEGIN A RAPID TRANSLATION EAST TOWARD THE REGION LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS WILL FURTHER DESTABILIZES THE NORTHERN ZONES AS THE LOW TRACKS ACROSS TONIGHT. LOOKING AT SNOTELS AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS CANT FIND A LOT OF SNOW IN THE GILA. THEY COULD SEE SOME THUNDERSNOW AND SOME ISOLATED AREAS OF HEAVY SNOW...BUT GENERALLY I THINK THE ADVISORY WILL HOLD...DUE TO THE RAPID SHIFT OF THE SYSTEM AND THE DRYING OF THE AIRMASS BEHIND THE FRONT. ONE CONCERN IS THE SIERRA COUNTY SNOW ADVISORY. MODEL SNOW AMOUNTS INDICATE A POTENTIAL FOR ABOVE CRITERIA SNOW THIS EVENING. WELL HAVE TO WATCH THAT AND CONSIDER AN UPGRADE TO HEAVY SNOW IS STUFF DEVELOPS OVER THE BLACK RANGE. SACS LOOK PRIMED FOR HEAVY SNOW SO THAT WARNING LOOKS GOOD. SOUTHERN LOWLAND LOCATIONS DONT LOOK GOOD FOR SNOW. OUT WEST DRY SLOT TOO SOON (BEFORE IT GETS COLD ENOUGH). S CENTRAL LOWLANDS NOT COLD ENOUGH. ONLY SNOW POSSIBILITY IS HUDSPETH COUNTY WHERE IT IS COOLER AND PCPN MAY HOLD IN LONGER. LACK OF SPOTTERS AND OBSERVATIONS MAKE IT HARD TO KNOW. I DO EXPECT LOCATIONS IN DONA ANA...OTERO...AND HUDSPETH WILL SEE AN EARLY MORNING MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW...BUT ACCUMULATIONS BELOW 5000FT NOT EXPECTED. THE SYSTEM WILL EXIT WEDNESDAY. SOME CLOUDS WILL HANG BACK...AND THE SACS MAY CONTINUE PCPN INTO MID DAY. THE REST OF THE WEEK LOOKS DRY AND TEMPS WILL REMAIN COOL. NEXT SYSTEM WILL DROP IN LATE FRIDAY AND PAS OVER ON SATURDAY. THIS SYSTEM LOOKS TO BE OUR NEXT SHOT AT PCPN AND COLD AIR IN PLACE MAKE SNOW POTENTIAL LOOK GOOD FRI NIGHT/SAT MORNING. && .AVIATION...VALID 20/00Z-21/00Z... A LOT GOING ON IN WEATHER OVER THE NEXT 12-18 HRS. CONTINUE LOW CIGS EXPECTED THROUGH THE NIGHT AND INTO THE MORNING. AREA MOUNTAINS WILL BE OBSCURED. SCT SHRA EXPECTED OVERNIGHT. SHSN NORTH OF LRU. WINDS WILL SHIFT TO WEST AND INCREASE TO 20-30 MPH BEHIND A PAC FRONT TONIGHT. ELP...MAY SEE MIX OF RA AND SN OVERNIGHT. VSBYS 1-3 IN RA ...ISOLATED AREAS OF 1/4 MI IN SN. PCPN ENDING BY MID MORNING. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... EL PASO 34 48 29 54 30 / 40 10 0 0 0 SIERRA BLANCA TX 28 50 27 56 27 / 40 0 0 0 0 LAS CRUCES 30 47 27 52 27 / 40 0 0 0 0 ALAMOGORDO 29 49 23 52 23 / 50 10 0 0 0 CLOUDCROFT 22 34 20 38 19 / 80 10 0 0 0 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES 25 47 22 51 22 / 50 0 0 0 0 SILVER CITY 24 41 22 47 24 / 30 0 0 0 0 DEMING 29 47 24 53 25 / 30 0 0 0 0 LORDSBURG 28 46 24 52 27 / 20 0 0 0 0 && .EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 14 / BIRD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX/SANTA TERESA NM 625 AM MST TUE DEC 19 2006 NMZ022>025-030>032-TXZ055-056-201330- SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS/LOWER GILA REGION-SIERRA COUNTY LAKES REGION- TULAROSA BASIN/SOUTHERN DESERT-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS- SOUTHWEST DESERT/BOOTHEEL-SOUTHWEST DESERT/MIMBRES BASIN- SOUTHERN DESERT-EL PASO-HUDSPETH- 625 AM MST TUE DEC 19 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO...SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO AND SOUTHWEST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TODAY ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA. HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED IN THE GILA MOUNTAINS...WHERE AN ADVISORY FOR 2 TO 4 INCHES...IS IN EFFECT. HEAVY SNOW IS ALSO EXPECTED FOR THE SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS...WHERE A WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR 8-12 INCHES IS POSSIBLE. SHOWERS OVER THE LOWLANDS WILL BE MOSTLY RAIN EXCEPT OVER THE HIGHER PARTS OF SIERRA COUNTY WHERE 1 TO 3 INCHES IS POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY MAINLY DRY AND BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. FAST MOVING SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER SERVICES MAY BE NEEDED IN MOUNTAINS TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
From 6 to 8 inches of snow fell overnight in the Cloudcroft area, with heavier amounts to the east.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, December 2006
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: 8954.