Here we snow again: Winter storm brings lower temperatures and snowfall throughout New Mexico

New Mexicans may be trading knitted sweaters and turkey dinners for winter coats and hot chocolate after a winter storm blanketed much of the Land of Enchantment with snow early Thursday morning.

Snowfall was scattered throughout the state, though all of New Mexico saw some degree of frost.

The West Side of Albuquerque saw only trace snow amounts overnight while the Northeast Heights recorded over 2 inches and the Cedar Crest area received a foot, according to Clay Anderson, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service.

Santa Fe saw varying amounts of snow, with the center of the city seeing under an inch while the western outskirts saw up to 2 inches.

“There’s a solid 7 to 9 inch swath over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in general, but we did see snow as far south as Ruidoso, which had a couple of inches,” Anderson said.

The storm system moved across northern New Mexico, Anderson said, and its interaction with a backdoor cold front caused “upslope forcing” that concentrated snow over the state’s mountain peaks.

Enjoy the snow while it lasts, because it won’t be snowing again for at least a week, Anderson said.

“We’re going to be drying out and slowly warming up,” he said. “Each day should be a little bit warmer than the next and as we get into early next week, we’re going to see a nice warmup.”

The winter storm brought snow and excitement at Sipapu Ski Resort, which reopened for daily operations Friday morning. The ski resort received 8 inches of snow, more than double what was forecast.

“Having over 6 inches is kind of a big deal, so we were thrilled to add that to our base,” said Christiana Hudson, marketing director for the ski resort. “This little help from Mother Nature sure is helpful.”

Hudson said she hopes the snow encourages skiers and snowboarders to kick off the season at the resort, adding that the storm topped off the mountains with fresh powder.

Although temperatures will gradually rise, forecasters said parts of northern and central New Mexico could experience their coldest night of the season so far Thursday evening and throughout the week.

Temperatures in Albuquerque are expected to drop to 22 degrees on Friday night, 6 degrees lower than it has been so far this year, Anderson said.

“We’re turning into the coldest part of the year, which would generally be the last week of December and the first two weeks of January,” Anderson said. “We’ll be slightly below average, but nowhere near record lows. These temperatures are generally within a few degrees of normal.”

Warmer weather is expected throughout the weekend, with Saturday reaching a high of 54 degrees during the day and a low of 25 degrees in the evening. Sunday and Monday will see similar temperatures, according to an NWS forecast.