High winds and snow bring major impacts to New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — High winds and snow are bringing major impacts to travel and daily activity in New Mexico.

An air quality alert was posted at noon for the Albuquerque metro area. Contractors and businesses were simultaneously instructed to shut down immediately if they generate dust.

A snow squall warning was issued around 11:24 a.m. for areas on I-40 near Grants and Thoreau and U.S. 550 near Cuba. Then, the line moved east to where the Albuquerque metro and Los Alamos were put under the warning around 12:45 p.m.

Whiteout conditions in heavy blowing snow and dangerous, life-threatening travel were expected with the snow squall.

Already, a wind warning was posted for the Albuquerque metro, which was expecting around 63 mph winds. South of Moriarty, the National Weather Service reported 83 mph winds and uprooted trees.

Crews responded to a brush fire near Arenal and Lopez. An area near Montano and Coors was also closed due to debris on the road.

Remember, if you’re traveling in an area where traffic lights lose power, intersections become four-way stops. Be careful in areas where power lines are down and sparking, as well.

If you’re experiencing a downed power line or an outage, contact PNM.

The area near the Continental Divide was already under a winter storm warning. 49 mph wind gusts are possible in Grants and 63 mph wind gusts are possible in Gallup.

Most of New Mexico, including the snow-squall area, is under a wind warning. Gusts of around 55-70 mph, even as high as 80 mph, are likely.

In Las Vegas, 72 mph wind gusts are possible. 68 mph gusts are possible in Socorro. 66 mph gusts are also possible in Roswell.

To Roswell now, and dust is starting to become a thing. With no precip down here, I’d imagine that’s going to be the big impact on travel (aside from those 70 mph gusts predicted for later). #nmwx pic.twitter.com/i8MLPJMqzE

— Matt Grubs (@MattGrubs) February 22, 2023

Raton and Red River may get 63 mph wind gusts to go with a few inches of snow they’re expecting. Even worse, Ruidoso will see a few inches of snow and as high as 76 mph wind gusts.

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