Storm Shuts Down I-40 for 9 Hours, Causes School Closures
Associated Press
A storm packing wind and snow forced police to shut down Interstate 40 in western New Mexico and caused a number of public schools to close. The closed portion of I-40 was reopened at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The National Weather Service posted an ice storm warning for DeBaca, Curry, Roosevelt and eastern Chaves counties.
A winter storm warning was issued for northern and central New Mexico, and a heavy snow warning was out for the Sacramento Mountains through Tuesday morning.
The weather bureau sent out a snow advisory for the southwestern mountains and through late Tuesday evening.
I-40 was closed for about nine hours early Tuesday between Albuquerque and Gallup because the roadway was snowpacked and icy, and travel was discouraged on I-40 in eastern New Mexico because of slick conditions.
Crews were spreading sand on I-40 to help motorists, said state police Lt. Rick Anglada.
Anglada said authorities closed about 120 miles of the interstate in both directions at about 2:30 a.m.
''Hopefully, we can keep traffic going slow,'' he said after the highway was reopened at about 11:30 a.m.
Anglada said he didn't know how many accidents had occurred, but there were reports of jackknifed tractor-trailers and vehicle rollovers.
There were no reports of fatalities, Anglada said.
He said up to 16 inches of snow had fallen at Grants, about midway between Gallup and Albuquerque.
Tim Shy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said snow and sleet had fallen across the region overnight. Temperatures were expected to bottom out in the 20s.
''It's been a mixed bag of snow, fog and freezing rain out there,'' Shy said.
He said temperatures in the region were not expected to rise above freezing on Wednesday.
Classes were canceled Tuesday in the Cimarron, Cuba, Gallup-McKinley County, Grants-Cibola County, Grady, Logan, Moriarty, Pine Hill, Quemado, Raton, Texico and Zuni school districts.
The storm — coupled with deepening low pressure over western New Mexico — caused snow, freezing rain and fog, and sleet to spread from south to north throughout Tuesday.
Snow accumulations ranged from 4-8 inches, with nearly a foot on mountaintops. The heaviest snowfall will be over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the north-central mountains, Torrance County and southern Lincoln County, the weather bureau said.
Wind gusts peaked at 63 mph in eastern Albuquerque before calming down Tuesday morning, the weather service said.
The storm will sweep across New Mexico's heartland to the Texas Panhandle overnight Tuesday, with snowfall tapering off from west to east.
Temperatures will plummet and breezes will kick up across New Mexico as the storm leaves the state.
Skies will clear and temperatures will rise slightly Thursday as the storm hooks northeastward into the central plains.
Another storm system, moving along a similar path, will push clouds, strong wind and another round of snow into the state from west to east Friday through Sunday.
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