Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area
42 Miles West Of Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Blog Updated Sunday, Nov 27th, 2022 At 6:00 PM MST.
Blog Updated Monday, Nov 28th, 2022 At 7:00 AM MST.
Blog Updated Tuesday, Nov 29th, 2022 At 9:05 AM MST.
Blog Updated Friday, Dec 2nd, 2022 At 7:11 PM MST.
Blog Updated Sunday, Dec 24th, 2022 At 8:18 AM MST.
Stunningly beautiful does not come close to describe my drive up to Sitting Bull Falls (elevation 5,000') Saturday morning from Carlsbad. I also shot video of the drive up on my Go Pro Camera and I will share that video when I get done editing.
This has to have been one of the craziest acting snow events I've seen in my lifetime here in Eddy County and the rest of Southeastern New Mexico. And I am 64 years old. I've seen other rain/snow mixed events like this one in the past but none to this extreme. Hard to believe that Queen at 5, 843' got 18" to 20" of snow while Cloudcroft further to the northwest in the Sacramento mountains at 8,750' measured 7.0" from the storm.
Light rain started falling in Carlsbad late Thanksgiving afternoon and evening. By around 2 AM Friday morning it had started mixing with and at times changing over to snow here at our home. A steady cold rain moderate to heavy at times fell continuously from Thanksgiving night through 5:30 AM Saturday morning. All through the day Friday into early Saturday morning we saw this back and forth mix of rain and snow. Sometimes all rain and sometimes all snow. Heavy wet snow with huge snowflakes few Friday morning accumulating to 1/2 of an inch on the ground at our home in Carlsbad. But by noon it was gone. My storm total precipitation for the event was 1.38" with 0.5" of snowfall. My family in Atoka south of Artesia reported 1.48" and a 1/2 of an inch of snow.
My high temp on Friday was only 35º and whenever the temp dropped a degree or two the rain changed over to or mixed with snow. Now here is the really weird part. Carlsbad Caverns National Park located 16 miles southwest of Carlsbad and 1,200' higher up in elevation measured 12.0" of snow! With drifts occurring as well. But by far the biggest winner was Queen located 50 miles west-southwest of Carlsbad at an elevation of 5,843'. They measured 18"-20" of snow! The Mobley Ranch located east of Loving and southeast of Carlsbad measured 6"-8" of snow. Locations up and down, east and west of the Pecos Valley only a couple of hundred feet higher in elevation picked up anywhere from 4" to 12"+ of snow. While the Roswell, Artesia, and Carlsbad areas had less than an inch. That slight difference in elevation combined bit a couple of degrees of colder temps made all of the difference in the world.
Local Storm Total Snowfall Reports.
Queen RV Part & Restaurant 18.0" - 20.0"
Mayhill 13.0"
Weed/Sacramento12.0"
Elk NWS Climate Co-Op Station 12.0"
11 miles east of Cloudcroft on US Hwy 82 (MM 29) 12.0"
Runyan Ranches east of Elk on US Hwy 82 (MM 56) 12.0"
Weed/Sacramento12.0"
Mayhill 2.8 miles west-northwest 11.5"
Sierra Blanca Snotel Near Ski Apache 11.0"
Wimsatt area east of Cloudcroft 11.0"
Elk NWS Climate Co-Op Station 11.0"
Mayhill 2.8 miles west-northwest 10.5"
16 Springs Canyon east of Cloudcroft 10.0"
Arabella 2.5 miles south-southwest 9.0"
White Oaks 6 miles west-northwest 9.0"
Caprock NWS Climate Co-Op Station 8.0"
Cloudcroft 2.3 miles south 7.0"
Cloudcroft NWS Climate Co-Op Station 7.0"
Hope NWS Climate Co-Op Station 6.8"
5 miles east of Cloudcroft 6.0"- 8.0"
Mobley Ranch Southeast Of Carlsbad 6.0" - 8.0"
Young Canyon near Wimsatt, east of Cloudcroft 6.0"
Hibbard Ranch northeast of Pinon in southwest Chaves Co 6.0"
Cloudcroft 0.4 miles east-southeast 5.0"
.
Hope 25.9 miles west-southwest 3.0"
Ruidoso 5.6 miles north-northeast 2.8"
Nogal 4.6 miles south-southeast 1.7"
Cloudcroft 1.8 miles southwest 1.4"
Brantley Dam NWS Climate Co-Op Station 0.5"
2.1 NNW Downtown Carlsbad CoCoRaHS Station 0.5"
La Luz (Otero Co) 5.8 miles east-northeast 0.1"
(Saturday, Nov 26, 2022).
