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Winter storm cuts power for tens of thousands, closes roads in northern New Mexico

Heavy snow weighs down tree branches along a state highway near Pojoaque, New Mexico, on Thursday morning. Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican via AP
Nearly 36,000 households were without electricity in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas

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 on Thursday, 24 inches of snow fell in Clines Corners, and parts of the Santa Fe National Forest near Rociada and Cleveland, according to the National Weather Service. A large swath of the state got between 8 and 18 inches of snow in that same period.

On Thursday afternoon, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a statewide emergency, unlocking $1.5 million for state agencies responding to the storm.

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 announced.

“Travel only if absolutely necessary,” Romero wrote. “Travel is extremely hazardous.”

Raven King, a bartender in Las Vegas, is originally from Colorado and said she can’t remember the last time she saw this much snow in one day. She and her roommate have power for now, but the restaurant where she works is closed because of the weather, which could mean days of lost wages.

“It’s very scary, and I have a lot of friends who have been losing power on and off, which makes me nervous,” she said.

NWS reported 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, according to the New Mexico Department of Transportation, including the Raton Pass and Interstate 25, the main route connecting to neighboring 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.

Albuquerque Public Schools, the largest school district in the state, closed its buildings and switched to remote learning.

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