1/4" ice coating everything along FM Rd #652 25 miles west of Orla, TX.
There was also 1/4" to 1/2" of sleet on the ground.
Blog Updated At:
1:03 PM MDT Saturday, Oct 31, 2020.
(October 1st - October 31st, 2020).
Historic Snow Storm & Record Cold For Much Of New Mexico.
New Daily October Record Low High Temperatures.
New October All-Time Low Temperatures.
New Daily October Snowfall Records.
New October All-Time Record Snowfall.
New Daily October Record Snow Depths.
New October Monthly Record Snow Depths.
Note that the above may not reflect the total data of new daily and monthly records that were established in New Mexico during the historic snowstorm that occurred during October 25-30, 2020.
Consider the posted data as preliminary. It may take some time before all official climatological data is available. Please click on the link above to view the latest information.
Color Code For 48-Hour Snowfall Totals.
(As of Oct 28th, 2020).
Lightest Blue= 1" or less.
Next Blue Shade= 1"-2"
Next Blue Shade= 2"-3"
Next Blue Shade= 3"-4"
Next Blue Shade= 4"-6"
Yellow Shade= 6"-8"
Light Orange= 8"-12"
Dark Orange= 12"-18"
Red Shade= 18"-24"
For instance, the Roswell Industrial Air Center reported 5" of snow on the ground on the 28th of the month but no 24-hour snowfall totals for that station were available at the time of this blog post. And the CoCoRaHS Observers in Roswell reported storm total snowfall amounts generally of between 3" to 8".
This storm was a classic example of snow banding and convective snowfall which meant that one location got clobbered with heavy snow and a short distance away (in some cases just a couple of miles) much less snow fell. It was interesting that the Ruidoso area reported 6" to 9.5" of snowfall while Cloudcroft only reported 2" to 3". Normally this would have been the other way around. Mayhill reported more than Cloudcroft with 6.5". Las Cruces got more snow than the Pecos Valley with the exception of the Roswell area.
The track of this storm played an important role in who got clobbered and who got left out. I recorded 1.7" of snowfall here in northwest Carlsbad while a CoCoRaHS Observer in Artesia only reported .3". If this storm would have tracked 100 miles further to the south, south of Carlsbad instead of north of Roswell, then all of Southeastern New Mexico may have ended up with a lot more snow than what we got. See my blog post on October 28th for more details.
The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!