Winter storm cuts power for tens of thousands, closes roads in northern New Mexico
A roadside camera shows low visibility in Raton in northeastern New Mexico on the afternoon of Nov. 7, 2024. (Photo courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Transportation)
A winter storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of New Mexicans, and some schools and government offices closed Thursday as more than 2 feet of snow fell in some parts of the state.
Nearly 36,000 households were without electricity in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas, according to an outage map maintained by PNM, the largest electric utility in the state.
In the last 24 hours, 24 inches of snow fell in Clines Corners, and parts of the Santa Fe National Forest near Rociada and Cleveland, to the National Weather Service. A large swath of the state got between 8 and 18 inches of snow in that same period.
National Weather Service Albuquerque issued a blizzard warning for the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near the city, including San Miguel, Harding and Union Counties, in effect through 8 p.m. Thursday.
Local government offices in Las Vegas, New Mexico shuttered Thursday afternoon and local officials warned people against traveling.
Dangerous and extreme weather closed the city government's offices leaving only essential publicly safety workers on duty, Mayor David Romero
"Travel only if absolutely necessary," Romero . "Travel is extremely hazardous."
over 100 vehicles stranded on three national highways that go through that same area, in northeastern New Mexico.
New Mexico State Police and local sheriff's deputies had been helping stranded motorists since Wednesday night, said Danielle Silva, a spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Five different state roads and interstate highways in the northeastern part of the state were closed, to the New Mexico Department of Transportation. That includes Interstate 25, the main highway connecting New Mexico and Colorado.
The city of Las Vegas and the counties of Mora and San Miguel are within the burn scar of the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon fire, where the soil is particularly vulnerable to flooding, state emergency management officials have said
Outside the blizzard zone, a winter storm warning remained in effect for the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the city of Albuquerque, along with much of the central and northern parts of the state, in effect through Friday morning.
