An upper level storm system initially brought a mix of valley rain and mountain snow to northern and central NM. The first precipitation reports entered northwestern NM with the arrival of the initial upper level trough, spreading and expanding across the northern mountains and adjacent highlands southward to the I-40 corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa by late Wednesday December 3rd.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
An upper level storm system initially brought a mix of valley rain and mountain snow to northern and central NM. The first precipitation reports entered northwestern NM with the arrival of the initial upper level trough, spreading and expanding across the northern mountains and adjacent highlands southward to the I-40 corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa by late Wednesday December 3rd. Mesoscale snowbands began to setup as a surface cold front advanced south and west across eastern NM and upslope into the east slopes of the central mountain chain Wednesday evening. This enhanced snow fall through the East Mountain Communities east of Albuquerque and the Sandia Mountains where 6 to 12 inches of snow was reported by Thursday morning on December 4th. An unfortunate semi-truck accident occurred along I-40 just east of Clines Corners at roughly 4:30am MST on the morning of December 4th. Slick and icy roads caused the driver to lose control and have their semi-truck rollover while another semi-truck crashed into them. Two other trucks were involved with one catching fire and becoming engulfed in flames according to a KOB news media report of the incident. Snow cleared out just before sunrise on the morning of December 4th.
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 3, 10:48 AM MST, 1 hour 12 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 1048 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025 ...New AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 1035 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025 - Snowpacked and icy roads will begin developing over northern areas this afternoon, then spread to east central areas tonight. Commutes will likely be impacted this evening and Thursday morning, including I-40 east of Albuquerque to the Texas border, I-25 north of Albuquerque to the Colorado border, and Highway 550 northwest of Albuquerque over the continental divide. - Strong northwest crosswinds will impact travel across east central New Mexico Saturday afternoon. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Thursday) Issued at 152 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025 Commutes will likely be impacted in many locations and especially Thursday morning as a fairly deep upper level trough swings through the forecast area from the northwest with increasing coverage of accumulating snow today, then widespread accumulating snow tonight. The deep upper level trough is already drawing a moist backdoor cold front through the eastern plains, and this front is now forecast to produce east canyon wind gusts from 25-40 mph in Santa Fe and Albuquerque from late this morning through tonight. By sunrise Thursday, snow amounts should vary from a few to 5 inches below 7500 feet across the northwest and northeast highlands, Sandia and Manzano Mountains, and upper Rio Grande Valley. The northern mountains can generally expect 3 to 8 inches of snow, except 6 to 15 inches in the mountains near the Colorado border including 4-6 inches on I-25 over Raton Pass and Glorieta Pass. I-40 can expect 2-5 inches through the east central highlands and Tijeras Canyon. With this forecast package we upgraded to a Winter Storm Warning in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near the CO border, and issued Winter Weather Advisories for the far northwest highlands, Jemez Mountains, and Sandia/Manzano Mountains. We may expand the Winter Weather Advisories further with future forecast updates. The NBM currently depicts a 30-55% chance of over 2 inches of snow tonight from Clayton southward to the Caprock (including Tucumcari), as well as Santa Fe and the Espanola Valley. There is also a 20-35 percent chance of over 2 inches of snow tonight in Moriarty. Temperatures will fall today and Thursday. Highs will bottom out on Thursday around 4-16 degrees below 1991-2020 averages. The base of the upper level trough will exit east of NM by midday Thursday, and accumulating snow will probably linger until mid morning in the Clovis area where less than an inch is currently forecast to accumulate. && .LONG TERM... (Thursday night through Tuesday) Issued at 152 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025 In the wake of the storm system, gusty northwest flow aloft is forecast to persist Friday through Tuesday. An upper level trough crossing the central Rockies will strengthen the flow aloft over NM producing the gustiest northwest surface winds along the central mountain chain and from the Clines Corners area to around Clovis and Portales Friday and especially Saturday. Peak gusts Saturday will probably reach around 30 to 45 mph. High temperatures will trend gradually warmer Friday through Monday, except for a few degrees of cooling over northeast and far east central areas on Sunday behind a backdoor cold front. High temperatures will reach near to several degrees above 30-year averages areawide starting Sunday. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1035 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025 A mixed bag of VFR to IFR conditions prevail across northern and central NM late this morning as a storm system over northern AZ spreads areas of light precipitation across northern and central NM. Deterioration is forecast later this afternoon and overnight as this system moves across northern NM through Thursday morning. Rain will likely mix with snow before turning over to all snow this evening at KABQ/KAEG and KTCC. MVFR and IFR conditions will be associated with snow this evening and overnight, with low to moderate probabilities for LIFR at KSAF. Snow on runways is likely, except at KROW where temperatures will remain too warm for accumulation. Improvement Thursday will be slow. A backdoor cold front will create a gusty east canyon wind at KABQ later today and overnight, but gusts are forecast to remain below Airport Weather Warning threshold at this time. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 152 AM MST Wed Dec 3 2025 There will be wetting precip in the form of rain and accumulating snow in many north central, central, and eastern locations today and tonight, then minimum humidities are forecast to stay above 15 percent for the next seven days. Strong winds look to develop over the mountains and east central areas on Saturday, but minimum humidities should be in the 25-45 percent range by then. Otherwise, areas of poor ventilation are forecast each day, with the most widespread poor ventilation Thursday, then Sunday through Tuesday. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 38 25 37 20 / 70 30 0 0 Dulce........................... 37 20 33 11 / 80 70 20 0 Cuba............................ 40 20 33 13 / 50 80 10 0 Gallup.......................... 40 18 39 11 / 40 30 0 0 El Morro........................ 40 21 37 16 / 40 50 0 0 Grants.......................... 45 19 40 12 / 30 50 5 0 Quemado......................... 45 23 38 15 / 50 50 0 0 Magdalena....................... 50 26 41 23 / 10 40 0 0 Datil........................... 45 22 39 19 / 20 40 0 0 Reserve......................... 51 21 47 16 / 30 40 0 0 Glenwood........................ 56 24 51 20 / 20 40 0 0 Chama........................... 32 17 29 8 / 90 80 30 0 Los Alamos...................... 39 22 34 17 / 50 90 20 0 Pecos........................... 40 18 35 18 / 50 90 10 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 37 19 30 13 / 80 90 10 0 Red River....................... 27 11 24 9 / 80 90 10 0 Angel Fire...................... 32 9 28 3 / 70 100 10 0 Taos............................ 39 20 33 10 / 60 90 20 0 Mora............................ 36 13 36 14 / 60 100 10 0 Espanola........................ 47 25 39 16 / 50 80 20 0 Santa Fe........................ 41 23 34 20 / 40 80 10 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 44 24 36 16 / 40 80 10 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 48 28 38 25 / 40 80 10 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 51 30 41 21 / 40 70 10 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 52 30 43 19 / 40 70 10 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 50 29 42 21 / 40 70 10 0 Belen........................... 53 30 44 18 / 40 70 10 0 Bernalillo...................... 50 28 42 22 / 40 70 10 0 Bosque Farms.................... 53 29 43 16 / 40 70 10 0 Corrales........................ 51 28 42 20 / 40 70 10 0 Los Lunas....................... 52 29 43 18 / 40 70 10 0 Placitas........................ 46 26 37 22 / 40 80 10 0 Rio Rancho...................... 49 29 42 21 / 40 70 10 0 Socorro......................... 57 31 48 23 / 20 40 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 42 21 34 19 / 50 80 10 0 Tijeras......................... 44 24 35 21 / 50 80 10 0 Edgewood........................ 44 21 35 17 / 50 90 10 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 45 21 37 14 / 50 80 10 0 Clines Corners.................. 38 17 32 17 / 50 90 10 0 Mountainair..................... 47 23 37 19 / 50 80 10 0 Gran Quivira.................... 49 23 39 19 / 40 80 10 0 Carrizozo....................... 54 30 45 24 / 20 70 20 0 Ruidoso......................... 48 24 40 25 / 10 70 20 0 Capulin......................... 31 16 34 14 / 60 80 5 0 Raton........................... 35 18 35 12 / 70 90 5 0 Springer........................ 39 19 39 12 / 50 90 5 0 Las Vegas....................... 38 16 35 14 / 40 90 10 0 Clayton......................... 38 21 38 20 / 20 80 10 0 Roy............................. 40 20 34 16 / 30 90 10 0 Conchas......................... 48 24 40 17 / 20 90 20 0 Santa Rosa...................... 46 24 38 24 / 20 90 20 0 Tucumcari....................... 48 23 41 20 / 10 80 40 0 Clovis.......................... 50 26 40 25 / 0 70 50 0 Portales........................ 52 26 41 26 / 0 60 40 0 Fort Sumner..................... 51 27 42 24 / 5 80 20 0 Roswell......................... 57 31 44 23 / 0 40 10 0 Picacho......................... 52 27 42 24 / 5 50 10 0 Elk............................. 57 24 43 22 / 0 40 10 0 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Winter Weather Advisory until 5 AM MST Thursday for NMZ203- 210>212-214-216-228-229. Winter Storm Warning until 5 AM MST Thursday for NMZ213-215-227. Winter Weather Advisory from 5 PM this afternoon to 5 AM MST Thursday for NMZ221-223. && SHORT TERM...44 LONG TERM....44 AVIATION...11
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 winter storm, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
There was a public report of 8 inches near Las Vegas, where there were several other reports of 7 to 8 inches in and around Las Vegas.
A CoCoRaHS report of 9 inches along I-25 near Rowe, NM. There was 2 to 5 inches of snow elsewhere across the zone.
There was a CoCoRaHS report of 12 inches along NM 14 just south of San Antonito. Generally 6 to 12 inches was reported across the northern portion of zone. Albuquerque Public Schools ran a virtual school day and there were minor winter impacts reported along I-40 through the Tijeras Canyon.
Local news station KOB reported a deadly semi-truck crash along I-40 just east of Clines Corners. The semi-truck lost control and rolled over with another semi-truck crashing into it, with two other trucks crashing into them. The first semi-truck is likely the one that caught fire and became engulfed in flames. There was unfortunately one fatality reported while another was taken to the hospital. Damage is an estimate of the four crashed trucks.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather, Central Highlands | 2025-12-04 | 40 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, December 2025
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: 1296291, 1296289, 1296290, 1296292.