Southern NM bears initial brunt of winter storm with freezing rain, snow-capped peaks

The first phase of a winter storm expected to clobber much of the nation made its entrance into New Mexico overnight Friday. Across the state, temperatures dropped to subzero, snow capped the high peaks and ice brought down power lines.

By Saturday afternoon, southern New Mexico had gotten the worst of it.

As of 5 p.m., just over a foot of snow had fallen in the Sacramento Mountains as temperatures hovered in the teens in Roswell. In Ruidoso, around 5,000 customers remained without power after ice-covered branches fell onto power lines and property, according to Public Service Company of New Mexico's outage map.

Nico Porcelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said much of the state would feel the effects of the storm, but forecasts were trending toward the biggest snowfall being in the southeast, with 4 to 8 inches expected in Ruidoso and Roswell overnight. 

The mountain peaks in the area could end up with 2 feet of fresh powder by Sunday morning. Up north, Taos and Santa Fe mountains had seen several inches to a foot but were not expected to see much more than a few additional inches overnight.

"It seems like Sierra Blanca peak and that Sacramento mountain area are going to be the big winners of this winter storm," Porcelli said.

While that's good news for skiers and snow lovers at large, Porcelli highly discouraged anyone from traveling in the southern part of the state.

"It's going to make for really difficult to near impossible travel conditions tonight," he said, adding that Chaves, De Baca, Lincoln and Roosevelt counties were forecast to be hardest hit by snowfall.

Additional impact came in the form of freezing rain over Ruidoso overnight Friday, which Porcelli said led to a half-inch of ice accumulation, breaking branches and downing power lines. He said the freezing rain had turned to snow by midday Saturday.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order, which went into effect Friday, declaring an emergency due to the expected weather and authorizing up to $200,000 in emergency funds "for the resources and services necessary to avoid or minimize economic or physical harm until the situation becomes stabilized."

The order states the funding may be put toward shelter, health care, food and any transportation or shipping "necessary to protect lives or public property." 

"This severe weather brings the potential for up to one foot of snow in some areas of New Mexico and temperatures as low as negative twelve degrees Fahrenheit," according to the order.

Porcelli said "in the north it's been a little more sparse."

He said higher temperatures in the valley and lower elevations in northern New Mexico lessened the storm's impact. Porcelli said another cold front was expected to push in overnight and drop temperatures in Albuquerque to the low 20s, possibly leaving an inch of snow in the metro area and 2 to 4 inches in the East Mountains.