Metro area receives several inches of snow, thousands without power
Nov. 7—A statewide winter storm has caused several roads to close while thousands of metro area residents remain without power.
Interstate 40 near Clines Corner, I-25 at Raton Pass, U.S. Highway 87 from Raton to Clayton and U.S. 56 from Springer to Clayton have been shut down due to snow packed and icy roads, according to .
In the metro area, Sandia Crest Road has remained closed since Monday.
According to the National Weather Service of Albuquerque, the foothills area received as much as 8 inches of precipitation late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Across the area, four-tenths of an inch of snow fell at Albuquerque International Sunport while Rio Rancho received 4-6 inches. Petroglyph National Monument got 5 inches. Three inches fell in Bernalillo and Belen got less than 2 inches, as of 10:10 a.m., said Raymond Jojola with NWS.
Further north, Las Vegas, which was predicted to get over 40 inches of snow by the time the storm passes through the area, got 12 inches of snow as of 10:10 a.m. Thursday, Jojola said.
"It's still coming down," he said.
A winter storm warning remains in effect in the metro area until 11 a.m. Friday, according to NWS. He said Albuquerque could receive 3-7 inches of snow before it's all over.
Bernalillo County spokesperson Melissa Smith said snowplows and other road maintenance equipment have been clearing county roads since early Thursday morning.
The storm has caused some power outages across the metro area, including the village of Corrales.
"If you have a generator for supplement power, do not run the generator inside your home," the village said.
PNM said in an email it has mobilized more than 100 crew members who are working to restore multiple outages, many of which are concentrated in the North Valley and Corrales.
"Due to the large number of smaller outages and ongoing severe weather, PNM is not yet able to estimate when power will be restored, and urges affected customers to be prepared to be out of service for an extended period," the email states.
The outages caused some traffic signals to stop working in Albuquerque, though it is unclear which signals have been affected.
"Drivers should treat those intersections as four-way stops," Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said.
Along with power outages, there have been some school and city office opening delays and road closures.
On a social media post, the city of Albuquerque announced that all non-essential offices will open at 10 a.m. It also said BioPark Zoo, Botanic Garden and the East Mountain Library will be closed Thursday.
The city of Rio Rancho said on social media it delayed the opening of city offices until 10 a.m.
Up in Santa Fe, city offices are closed due to the poor road conditions.
