Drought conditions across northern and central New Mexico remained largely unchanged during the month of January 2021. An active storm track during the second half of the month saw several storm systems bring beneficial rain and snow to much of western and northern New Mexico.
Every event with a place to put it; 41 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Drought conditions across northern and central New Mexico remained largely unchanged during the month of January 2021. An active storm track during the second half of the month saw several storm systems bring beneficial rain and snow to much of western and northern New Mexico. While the Tusas Mountains saw some drought improvement, the active pattern wasn't enough to result in significant changes. Extreme to exceptional drought remained the same at about 82 percent of the state with about 54 percent deemed exceptional drought. Southwestern New Mexico benefited the most from the active pattern with portions of the Gila receiving about 3 to 6 inches of precipitation. Northern New Mexico received about 1 to 2 inches of precipitation while portions of the lower Rio Grande Valley received around half an inch to three quarters of an inch. Eastern New Mexico fared poorly during the month with most of the plains receiving less than half an inch of precipitation.
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 Dec 31, 10:50 PM MST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1050 PM MST Thu Dec 31 2020 .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE Clouds will continue to gradually lower across far western New Mexico this evening as a mostly dry upper-level low moves sewd toward the NM bootheel. Lcl light snow showers are possible over far western New Mexico and KGUP tonight into early Friday with temporary MVFR vsby/cigs in snow showers along with mountain obscurations. Elsewhere, VFR conditions with light winds will prevail through Friday. 33 && .PREV DISCUSSION...247 PM MST Thu Dec 31 2020... .SYNOPSIS... The hopefully happy New Year will start off with light snow showers reaching parts of west-central NM tonight near Gallup to Grants and along the continental divide. But overall, New Year's Day starts off mostly cloudy with chilly weather. Temperatures warm through the weekend and Monday as skies clear and westerly winds increase. The next weather system approaches Tuesday bringing the strongest southwest to west winds, and warmest temperatures to the eastern plains of the forecast period. Snow potential for this system next week looks light to modest at best through the northern mountains, and most areas look to remain dry and windy at this time. && .DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT)... After another frigid morning, dry and tranquil weather conditions have been in place over NM with temperatures remaining chilly this afternoon. Currently, NM rests between two upper level lows, one moving into south central TX and another upstream one that is currently over the lower Colorado River basin between CA-AZ. Clouds are already increasing over far western NM, and this trend will continue over western zones with cloud bases lowering as top-down moistening progresses and diffluent flow enters the state. The low is projected to drop into the Sonoran desert of Old Mexico through tonight, and high resolution convection- allowing models are a bit more enthused about mesoscale snow tonight into early Friday in west central NM where weak mid level ascent will be present. Localized areas surrounding Gallup, Zuni, Ramah, and Pietown could be in store for an inch of accumulation, perhaps two, overnight into early Friday morning. Elsewhere, no appreciable accumulations are foreseen. Partly to mostly cloudy skies are expected through the daytime on New Year’s Day, and temperatures will struggle to warm much, staying slightly below average while the upper low shuffles over the southeast corner of the state. East northeast flow from the surface to the mid levels could attempt to saturate and squeeze out a few stray sprinkles in east central NM Friday afternoon, but for now POPs have been limited to 10 to 20 percent. LONG TERM...(SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)... The Long Term period starts with weak perturbations embedded within an overall northwest flow over the state. The main sensible weather concerns will be breezy to locally windy westerlies at the surface, focusing through the east- central plains thanks to a lee-side surface trough developing through northeastern NM. This continues a warming trend with downslope compressional warming bringing daytime highs toward the 60F mark over the eastern plains Saturday and Sunday. Did bump up highs a bit over NBM to account for this. Monday will start the week with overall calm conditions and temperatures continuing to trend warmer. Breezy to windy southwesterlies look to return Tuesday ahead of a closed low/trough approaching the area from the Great Basin. Another lee-side trough is favored to develop through southeastern CO, helping increase winds through the usual windy spots of the Central Highlands and east- central plains. Trended daytime highs warmer again for this effect. A fair amount of forecast uncertainty remains with the strength and track of this system Tuesday through Wednesday. Run-to-run consistency and intra-model agreement remains poor in these two departments for both the GFS and ECMWF. Despite this, dry and windy conditions look favored for areas south of I-40. The question is if there will be beneficial light snow accumulations reaching the northern mountains or will it all stay in Colorado. The colder air behind this system reaches all areas by Wednesday, dropping highs back to near normal for early January. Temperatures warm back up a little Thursday with a shortwave ridge passing the area. 52/24 && .FIRE WEATHER... Through the end of the week, precipitation chances will remain low with west central NM being the likely beneficiary of any light snow accumulations tonight into early Friday. Temperatures will remain chilly through New Year’s Day, and no significant or strong winds are expected, but this trend will evolve into the weekend as breezy to locally windy conditions take shape from the central mountains/highlands eastward. Any critical fire weather concerns appear to be localized and brief this weekend, mainly in the east central plains as temperatures warm slightly and minimum afternoon RH drops within a closer margin to critical thresholds. A brief respite from stronger winds is expected on Monday, but another upper level disturbance will quickly approach near NM by Tuesday of next week, allowing wind speeds to increase again. Chances for beneficial precipitation remain low for this Tuesday disturbance, and the combination of stronger winds and marginally low humidity could create localized critical fire weather concerns in east central NM once again. 52 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 232 PM MST Thu Dec 31 2020 NMZ201>241-011200- Northwest Plateau-Chuska Mountains-Far Northwest Highlands- Northwest Highlands-West Central Plateau-West Central Mountains- West Central Highlands-Southwest Mountains- San Francisco River Valley-Tusas Mountains Including Chama- Jemez Mountains-Glorieta Mesa Including Glorieta Pass- Northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains- Southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains- East Slopes Sangre de Cristo Mountains-Upper Rio Grande Valley- Espanola Valley-Santa Fe Metro Area- Middle Rio Grande Valley/Albuquerque Metro Area- Lower Rio Grande Valley-Sandia/Manzano Mountains Including Edgewood- Estancia Valley-Central Highlands-South Central Highlands- Upper Tularosa Valley-South Central Mountains- Johnson and Bartlett Mesas Including Raton Pass- Far Northeast Highlands-Northeast Highlands-Union County- Harding County-Eastern San Miguel County-Guadalupe County- Quay County-Curry County-Roosevelt County-De Baca County- Chaves County Plains-Eastern Lincoln County-Southwest Chaves County- San Agustin Plains and Adjacent Lowlands- 232 PM MST Thu Dec 31 2020 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of north and central New Mexico. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight Light snow accumulations along the continental divide near I-40 could create slick road conditions tonight into New Year's morning. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday Strengthening southwesterly to westerly winds arrive Tuesday, increasing chances for hazardous crosswinds for north-to-south oriented highways. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report snow amounts through the National Weather Service Albuquerque web site at weather.gov/abq or by calling 1.888.386.7637. You can also submit storm reports and photos on our Facebook page or via Twitter using the hashtag nmwx. 24
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
41 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme drought conditions from December 2020 improved slightly to severe drought conditions in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe to extreme drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Exceptional drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
Severe drought conditions from December 2020 continued in January 2021.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2021Every state in 2021This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, January 2021
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: 931361, 931362, 931363, 931364, 931365, 931366, 931367, 931368, 931369, 931370, 931371, 931372, 931373, 931374, 931375, 931376, 931377, 931378, 931379, 931380, 931381, 931382, 931383, 931384, 931385, 931386, 931387, 931388, 931389, 931390, 931391, 931392, 931394, 931395, 931396, 931397, 931398, 931399, 931400, 931401, and more.