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This is highly variable from year to year. It's not like other places that have consistent weather and consistent temperature ranges.
In general, every year you can expect nighttime temps in the winter to be in the teens (10F-20F). Some years will have cold spells where it gets much colder.
Of course. Not unusual for any high desert environment. Blizzards in NM mean snow coming down hard, with or without wind, in white-out conditions where you can't see 20 feet in front of your car.
9 or 10 degrees F is not unusual. Lower than that would be a little unusual, but not unheard of. Albuquerque has seen -10 in the recent past and has had one or two occassions of below -20F in the past few decades. I believe it even has seen -30F.
All great detailed info...as were the comparison photos. I totally get how differences in distance and elevation can produce such variations in climate. I experience this here in the PNW also. Again, thanks for the details. It's good to know what one can expect. And you know, the "normal" temps are changing everywhere. What's normal now is simply what isn't normal, I think! I suppose it was not the brightest question to ask overall.
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Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Well, OP, we're due for 2 more days of snow. In Santa Fe today, there was very light, intermittent snow, no sun, unlike the report from ABQ. I spent part of the day driving around town, trying to find a snow shovel, to prepare for the next two days, but everywhere was sold out! Should've anticipated the need yesterday.
By the end of the week, though, the temps will be up around 40, snow will melt quickly, the streets will be safe to drive again. Looking forward to it.
Happy New Year!
I hope you all got your snow shovels and enjoyed using them! I watched Poncho's links to the news videos, and it still all looks do-able, not TOO blizzardy, just right (for a few days, only, though!). It's good to hear the 40s will be back and all will melt. What a great holiday season you all had, very appropriate.
I wish you, all, a Wonderful 2019! And many thanks for sharing your perspectives of the snow, cold, etc.
Every winter you'll see overnight temps in the teens in Albuquerque. You can expect that. Lower than that is possible, but won't happen every year.
Well...actually...the overnight lows were my main concern with the post. When I saw 4 and 5 degree lows, I had to know if this is something relatively common, like it happens at least several times a year. Even if it's just for a few days, no more than a week, this is significant info for me to have. All my family is from SoCal and SO's from NorCal, and I hate to say it, but that just gets in one's blood when it comes to cold tolerance no matter how much I've always love the "cold."
We moved to WA, close to Seattle, and I have to laugh when I remember a relative saying that it doesn't matter whether it's 32 degrees or 12 degrees because freezing is freezing, no difference. "Oh, no," I said, "Very, very different!" When our lows hit the 20s, I cringe, still, after 15 years here. The coldest I've ever experienced was exactly 0 degrees F. I remember we had our dogs out in the WA mountains in winter, and we had come back to the car. We gave our dogs water in a travel dog bowl, not deep. We milled about the car doing stuff. When it came time to "dump" the rest of the undrunk water, it had frozen! In maybe 15 minutes, a couple inches of water had frozen. OMG! So...when I saw 4 and 5 degrees F lows in ABQ, it caught my eye, like massively! I must be prepared. I must screw up my courage!
This is the first serious snow we've had in years. This used to be normal, and used to happen throughout the winter. So when you ask about "how often does this happen in the winters", well, this winter may be a back-to-normal winter, but that doesn't mean future winters will be like this.
Local forecast says Saturday afternoon will be sunny, not sure if it will be warm enough to melt away the snow, but Monday will see another snow front happening, followed by sunny days for the 2nd half of the week. Temps are expected to get into the single digits at night, but will warm up toward the end of next week, into mid-30's to low 40's during the day. Today hovered around 20, in Santa Fe.
we lived just south of ABQ in the early 2000s I can only remember 2 years where we really got a lot of snow. One was around Christmas and the other year it was late winter. We usually got a dusting each year, but nothing to talk about. Now heading out of ABQ into AZ was a little different. They got hit harder each winter.
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Should've anticipated the need yesterday.
