A few winter storms moved across the state during December providing beneficial rain and mountain snow to the state. However, this only resulted in the removal of extreme drought conditions across parts of north central New Mexico and removal of severe drought conditions across parts of central New Mexico.
Every event with a place to put it; 39 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.
A few winter storms moved across the state during December providing beneficial rain and mountain snow to the state. However, this only resulted in the removal of extreme drought conditions across parts of north central New Mexico and removal of severe drought conditions across parts of 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 Nov 30, 10:43 PM MST, 1 hour 17 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1043 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023 ...New AVIATION... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 242 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023 Light rain and shower showers will continue to taper off in central and eastern New Mexico this afternoon and early evening. Then, a second and third round of winter weather are expected to come through tonight through Saturday. Snow levels will fluctuate between 4,000 and 6,000 feet during the next couple of storm systems, but significant accumulations will confined to locations above 8,000 feet in central and western New Mexico. Saturday and Sunday will be windy across eastern New Mexico behind the last storm. Dry weather and near to slightly above normal temperatures prevail next week. && .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Friday night) Issued at 242 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023 Another round of lowland rain and snow and accumulating mountain snow is expected for areas mainly along and west of the central mountain chain later tonight through Friday. A final wave expected Friday night will be colder and models are notably lighter with the forecast precipitation although it will be all snow. Forecast models are not indicating the incoming round will be a closed system as what resulted in this morning's rain and snow. However, grids may be underestimating snowfall amounts in the Espanola Valley/Santa Fe area late tonight into Friday, based on where models have placed the precipitation bands. Along with potential for fog/freezing fog, decided to stretch the Winter Weather Advisories issued this morning out through the expiration time of the inherited highlights. Did go ahead and drop the Northeast Highlands as the backwash precipitation into that area has appeared to diminish, based on radar. Will also allow the current Wind Advisory to expire as scheduled. Temperatures Friday will remain about 5 to 15 degrees below normal. && .LONG TERM... (Saturday through Wednesday) Issued at 242 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023 Northwest flow could allow mountain snow showers to continue into early Saturday, but showers should be all wrapped up by the afternoon as subsidence moves in behind the trough. As the final of three Pacific waves exits into the Great Plains on Saturday, it will induce the development of an ~1010mb surface Low in the TX Panhandle. This will create windy conditions from the central mountain chain eastward. The NBM appears to be too low with the winds so they were increased closer to MOS guidance. Wind speeds are around 30 to 40 KT at 700 mb and a few of these gusts will probably mix down to the surface during the afternoon hours. The current forecast shows wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph, but winds may continue to trend upward the next couple of days. Dry, northwest flow continues into Sunday, but stronger gusts will generally be confined to the central mountain chain and adjacent highlands. Ensemble guidance is in good agreement that ridging will amplify over the West Coast early next week, pushing the jet stream off to the northeast of New Mexico and allowing winds to decrease. Temperatures will gradually warm to above seasonal averages early to mid-next week as ridging nudges eastward. Mostly clear skies will prevail each day so valley inversions will set-up overnight and make for some cold nights, especially in mountain valleys where snowfall remains on the ground. Uncertainty increases in the forecast late next week. The trend appears towards a breakdown in the ridge, but it isn't clear if this will give way to a more progressive pattern or if a Low will cut off somewhere over the desert southwest. Regardless, dry weather should continue through at least the end of the workweek. && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 1039 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2020 A series of disturbances will cross from the west for the remainder of tonight through Friday evening with periods of snow, lowest elevation rain, and late night/early morning fog/freezing fog favoring western and north central areas, but potentially also over central areas as far east as the central mountain chain. Widespread MVFR and IFR conditions are expected across north central and western areas tonight through Friday morning. Flight categories should generally improve at lower elevations Friday afternoon, but scattered to numerous rain and snow showers are forecast to continue along and west of the central mountain chain. There will probably also be isolated thunderstorms in the mix Friday afternoon along and west of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and along and west of Mount Taylor. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 242 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023 Another round of lowland rain and snow and accumulating mountain snow is expected for mainly areas along and west of the central mountain chain tonight through Friday with the final round Friday night, which would be all snow with potentially lighter snowfall amounts. A few thunderstorms are possible Friday over northwest into north central NM. Daytime temperatures will be about 5 to 15 degrees below normal through Sunday. Drier and strong northwest winds along the central mountain chain into the eastern plains Saturday may create an area of near critical conditions across northeast and east central NM. Strong northwest winds persist Sunday along the east slopes of the central mountain chain into the eastern plains where localized near critical conditions are possible. Winds relax Monday into Tuesday and Wednesday as temperatures gradually recover to near or above normal. Good to excellent ventilation is most likely and widespread Friday and Saturday. Ventilation Sunday will be good mainly east of the central mountain chain with fair to poor rates west of the RGV. Widespread poor ventilation returns Monday through Wednesday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 28 40 21 40 / 50 50 40 10 Dulce........................... 23 35 16 36 / 60 70 50 20 Cuba............................ 24 34 16 31 / 70 60 40 20 Gallup.......................... 22 38 15 36 / 60 40 40 10 El Morro........................ 25 35 18 33 / 60 50 60 10 Grants.......................... 25 38 19 35 / 40 30 40 10 Quemado......................... 26 39 20 38 / 50 60 50 10 Magdalena....................... 26 43 26 41 / 10 30 30 5 Datil........................... 23 39 21 38 / 20 40 40 5 Reserve......................... 28 42 19 47 / 60 60 40 5 Glenwood........................ 33 45 27 50 / 60 70 40 5 Chama........................... 18 30 10 30 / 50 70 50 30 Los Alamos...................... 24 36 20 31 / 50 50 30 20 Pecos........................... 24 37 20 38 / 30 30 20 10 Cerro/Questa.................... 15 34 15 29 / 20 30 20 10 Red River....................... 13 29 10 32 / 20 30 20 20 Angel Fire...................... 9 34 6 28 / 30 30 20 10 Taos............................ 20 37 16 32 / 30 30 20 10 Mora............................ 20 40 18 37 / 20 20 20 5 Espanola........................ 23 40 18 39 / 40 40 20 20 Santa Fe........................ 25 36 20 33 / 40 40 20 20 Santa Fe Airport................ 26 39 21 35 / 40 30 20 10 Albuquerque Foothills........... 29 40 26 41 / 40 30 30 5 Albuquerque Heights............. 31 44 27 42 / 30 30 20 5 Albuquerque Valley.............. 26 45 23 45 / 30 30 20 5 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 30 44 26 42 / 40 30 20 5 Belen........................... 33 48 28 47 / 20 30 20 5 Bernalillo...................... 29 43 25 42 / 40 30 20 10 Bosque Farms.................... 30 46 26 45 / 30 30 20 5 Corrales........................ 29 44 25 43 / 40 30 20 10 Los Lunas....................... 31 47 27 45 / 20 30 20 5 Placitas........................ 29 40 25 37 / 50 30 30 10 Rio Rancho...................... 30 43 26 42 / 40 30 20 10 Socorro......................... 33 49 29 51 / 10 30 10 5 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 25 37 23 36 / 50 30 40 5 Tijeras......................... 27 40 24 36 / 50 30 30 5 Edgewood........................ 25 40 23 38 / 30 20 30 5 Moriarty/Estancia............... 24 42 22 40 / 20 20 20 5 Clines Corners.................. 24 39 21 35 / 10 10 10 0 Mountainair..................... 26 41 24 40 / 10 30 20 5 Gran Quivira.................... 28 44 26 42 / 10 30 30 5 Carrizozo....................... 33 48 31 46 / 5 20 20 5 Ruidoso......................... 29 41 27 44 / 10 20 20 0 Capulin......................... 15 44 18 44 / 5 0 0 0 Raton........................... 16 46 18 47 / 5 0 0 0 Springer........................ 17 46 18 48 / 0 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 21 43 21 41 / 10 5 5 0 Clayton......................... 19 48 25 52 / 0 0 0 0 Roy............................. 21 49 23 49 / 5 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 24 50 29 56 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 30 51 30 49 / 5 0 5 0 Tucumcari....................... 23 54 31 55 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 28 55 31 54 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 28 57 32 56 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 30 55 32 55 / 0 0 5 0 Roswell......................... 33 61 32 61 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 34 53 33 55 / 0 0 5 0 Elk............................. 32 49 30 53 / 5 5 10 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Storm Warning until 6 AM MST Saturday for NMZ204>206-211. Winter Weather Advisory until 6 AM MST Saturday for NMZ201>203- 207-208-210-212-214-217-218-221. && SHORT TERM...99 LONG TERM....16 AVIATION...44
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
731 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0730 PM Snow 8 SW San Mateo 35.24N 107.73W
11/30/2023 E13.0 inch Cibola NM Emergency Mngr
Still snowing at the time report was
provided on the phone.
&&
MAAPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
742 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0615 PM Snow Torreon Navajo Mission 35.80N 107.18W
11/30/2023 M3.0 inch Sandoval NM CO-OP Observer
CO-OP Observer station TORN5 Torreon Navajo
Mission.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Albuquerque NM
858 PM MST Thu Nov 30 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM Snow Sheep Springs 36.14N 108.71W
11/30/2023 E4.0 inch San Juan NM Public
Fell late Wednesday night.
&&
44The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
39 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe to mainly extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought was removed across southeast parts of the zone thanks to beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought contracted to the northern part of the zone thanks to beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across most of the zone. However, beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions be eliminated in the northeast part of the zone.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial precipitation from several winter storms.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed extreme drought conditions to contract to the southern part of the zone with severe drought conditions across the rest of the zone.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to contract to the central and southern part of the zone with moderate drought conditions across the northern part of the zone.
Severe drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed extreme drought conditions to improve to severe drought conditions.
Severe to mainly extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial precipitation from several winter storms.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe and extreme drought conditions to be contracted to northern and central parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions now in the southern part of the zone.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to far southern parts of the zone with the rest of the zone now under moderate drought conditions.
Beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed severe and extreme drought conditions to be contracted to northern and central parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions now in the southern part of the zone.
Beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed severe and extreme drought conditions to be contracted to northern and central parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions now in the southwest part of the zone.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to the northeast and far southern parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions elsewhere.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to central and southern parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions now in the northeast part of the zone.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to the southern parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions elsewhere.
Severe to extreme drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial snowfall from several winter storms.
Severe drought conditions persisted across central and southern parts of the zone, despite receiving some beneficial precipitation from several winter storms.
Severe drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial precipitation from several winter storms.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to the northern and western parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions across the southeast part of the zone.
Severe drought conditions persisted across most of the zone, despite receiving some beneficial precipitation from several winter storms.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to the western parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions elsewhere.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to the western and central parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions elsewhere.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to far eastern and southeast parts of the zone with moderate drought conditions elsewhere.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed extreme drought conditions to be removed across north central parts of the zone. However, most of the zone remains under extreme drought conditions with exceptional drought conditions across the southern part of the zone.
Beneficial snowfall from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be removed across northeast parts of the zone. However, most of the zone remains under severe drought conditions with extreme drought conditions across the southern part of the zone.
Extreme to exceptional drought conditions persisted across the zone, despite receiving some beneficial precipitation from several winter storms.
Beneficial precipitation from several winter storms allowed severe drought conditions to be contracted to far southern parts of the zone with the rest of the zone now under abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, December 2023
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: 1147501, 1147502, 1147503, 1147504, 1147505, 1147506, 1147507, 1147508, 1147509, 1147510, 1147511, 1147512, 1147513, 1147514, 1147515, 1147516, 1147517, 1147518, 1147519, 1147520, 1147521, 1147522, 1147523, 1147524, 1147525, 1147526, 1147527, 1147528, 1147530, 1147538, 1147540, 1147541, 1147542, 1147543, 1147544, 1147545, 1147546, 1147547, 1147548.