A potentially historic winter storm is pouring snow in New Mexico and Colorado. According to the FOX Forecast Center, the storm will bring extreme snow to New Mexico’s mountains, unlike anything seen in November in years.
It is projected to create difficult traffic conditions on Interstate 25 and Interstate 40 in New Mexico beginning Saturday.
The State Department of Transportation reported that I-40 had already been closed north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Thursday.
The National Weather Service in Albuquerque reported that more than 100 automobiles were stranded on state roadways Thursday afternoon.
A similar system caused portions of I-70 in Colorado to be shut down on Wednesday.
“By the time the storm ends, we could be talking about snow totals as high as 6 feet along the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen McCloud said.
Southern Colorado is also in the eye of the storm Thursday. South of Denver, in Littleton, Colorado, FOX Weather Meteorologist Craig Herrera observed light “champagne” flakes in the morning but predicted heavier, wetter precipitation by Saturday.
The Raton Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on I-25, which connects New Mexico to Colorado, was closed Thursday afternoon by the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
The National Weather Service issued an emergency blizzard warning for that area until 8 p.m. local time on Friday.
Craig Herrera, a meteorologist, said that Sunday was the ideal day to travel. Power New Mexico, New Mexico’s major electrical supplier, said the storm caused extensive power disruptions across the state on Thursday. According to the company’s outage map, at least 43 thousand clients were affected by the afternoon. Many of those outages had no timeline for restoration.
The Denver metro region saw a respite in accumulation on Thursday, but conditions are forecast to worsen from Thursday to Saturday as the storm travels back north, with the greatest snowfall expected Friday night.