A deep layer of sub-tropical moisture that surged northeast off the eastern Pacific Ocean interacted with a shallow but potent cold airmass over eastern New Mexico around the Thanksgiving holiday. A persistent band of freezing rain moved over the area from Lincoln County northeast across the eastern plains of New Mexico and into west Texas.
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 deep layer of sub-tropical moisture that surged northeast off the eastern Pacific Ocean interacted with a shallow but potent cold airmass over eastern New Mexico around the Thanksgiving holiday. A persistent band of freezing rain moved over the area from Lincoln County northeast across the eastern plains of New Mexico and into west Texas. A rare freezing rain event resulted in severe impacts to travel across much of this area, including Interstate 40 and U.S. Highways 54, 285, 60/84, and 70/380. Widespread freezing rain accumulations of one quarter inch to one half inch were reported, with locally higher amounts. Light snow accumulations fell on top of the ice in a few areas mainly north of Interstate 40. Power lines were downed around Curry County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred over many areas of eastern New Mexico as a result of the icy travel conditions.
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 Nov 25, 10:52 PM MST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>8 ice storm, 4 winter storm, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
One to two tenths of an inch of freezing rain, around 1 inch of snowfall, very cold temperatures, and gusty winds severely impacted travel around Harding County.
One quarter inch to one half inch of freezing rain downed power lines around the Clovis area. Near 2000 residents were without power. Widespread treacherous travel conditions were reported across the county.
One quarter inch to one half inch of freezing rain fell over northern portions of Roosevelt County from near Melrose to Tolar. Treacherous driving conditions were reported over this area for more than 24 hours.
One half inch to one inch of freezing rain and around 1 inch of snow fell across Quay County. Treacherous driving conditions were reported along Interstate 40 and many surrounding U.S. highways. Interstate 40 was closed from Tucumcari to the Texas state line due to widespread major impacts to travel into Texas.
Three to six inches of snowfall was reported around the high terrain. Minor impacts to travel were reported.
One quarter inch of freezing rain and light accumulations of snow fell across De Baca County. Treacherous driving conditions were reported over this area for more than 24 hours.
Near one half inch of freezing rain and around 1 inch of snow fell across Guadalupe County. Treacherous driving conditions were reported along Interstate 40 and many surrounding U.S. highways.
One to two tenths of an inch of freezing rain and around 1 inch of snowfall severely impacted travel around Harding County. The combination of cold temperatures and gusty winds severely impacted all roadways around the area.
One quarter inch of freezing rain and light snow accumulations impacted the U.S. Highway 70 corridor around Arabela to Chaves County. Travel was severely impacted toward Encinoso as well.
One quarter to one half inch of freezing rain and light snow accumulations impacted the U.S. Highway 54 corridor. Treacherous driving conditions were reported from north of Carrizozo to northeast of Corona. Numerous accidents were reported, including an overturned semi truck. The highway was closed for several hours.
Light accumulations of freezing rain and around 1 to 2 inches of snowfall produced treacherous travel conditions around Clines Corners. Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 285 were severely impacted.
Gentleman traveling through Carrizozo very early on the 28th noted much of the area was still covered in at least one half inch of ice, if not more. Broken tree branches were reported. Numerous wrecks were also reported the previous day along the highways to Capitan and Corona.
Light accumulations of freezing rain and around 1 to 2 inches of snowfall produced treacherous travel conditions around the Sacramento Mountains and Ruidoso. The combination of cold temperatures and gusty winds severely impacted all roadways around the area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, November 2015
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 602959, 602948, 602950, 602953, 602961, 602951, 602954, 602958, 602960, 602952, 602955, 602956, 602957.