Winter storm to bring snow, treacherous travel from New Mexico to Kansas
After a mild and dry start to the new year for much of the Southwest and southern High Plains, snow is on the way, AccuWeather meteorologists say. A large storm will interact with cold air and spread snow across the region into Friday.
The large storm system that came into California Tuesday into Tuesday night pushed across the interior Southwest through Thursday.
Snow was falling at a moderate to heavy pace over the mountains of northern New Mexico. A wintry mix occurring at some of the lower elevations, including in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During Thursday night, the snow spread from parts of northwestern Texas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and southeastern Colorado into much of Kansas.
"The snow is expected to pick up in intensity as the storm becomes more organized with more abundant moisture available," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Heather Zehr said.
Across southeastern New Mexico into southeastern Kansas, warmer air filtering in from the Gulf of Mexico will hinder the advancement of colder air, resulting in a wintry mix falling into Friday. Cities including Clovis, New Mexico, and Amarillo, Texas, could get a slushy accumulation of rain, snow and sleet, which can cause slippery travel.
A general 2-6 inches of snow is expected across much of the region, including Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Wichita, Kansas. Localized amounts of up to a foot can occur across the highest elevations in New Mexico and southern Colorado. Accumulating snow will result in slow and difficult travel across the region, including portions I-25, I-40 and I-70 corridors.
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For much of the Southwest, outside of the highest terrain, this will be the first true shovelable snow of the season after a below-historical average snowfall in December. Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona, for example, recorded only a trace and 0.7" of an inch of snow respectively, which is 16 and 4 percent of what is typically received in December.
The storm swinging through the Southwest dropped 5.3 inches of snow on Flagstaff during the evening hours on Wednesday. At times the snow fell at the rate of an inch per hour.
As the storm departs the southern High Plains and treks eastward, snow is expected to spread across the central and eastern United States. It is possible that the snow zone may shrink substantially as it moves through the lower to middle Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley from Friday to early Saturday before ramping up significantly across the Northeast during the weekend.
Portions of the Southwest and southern Plains will have to brace for another storm that will spread areas of snow, gusty winds, wintry mix and rain across the region from the end of the weekend to early next week.
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