An upper level trough tapped some moisture from the Baja region with a back door cold front pushing through New Mexico. Temperatures cooled enough in the mountains for snow to develop and over 4 inches of snow was reported in some locations of the Gila.
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.
An upper level trough tapped some moisture from the Baja region with a back door cold front pushing through New Mexico. Temperatures cooled enough in the mountains for snow to develop and over 4 inches of snow was reported in some locations of the Gila.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Snowfall amounts ranged from 2 to almost 5 inches with the maximum report of 4.6 inches 4 miles northwest of Silver City. White Signal reported 4.5 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, January 2016
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 614980.