Weather & Road conditions on Rt 70 (Las Cruces, Roswell: house, maintenance, dangerous)

[FedupwithNJ]

My wife & I will be traveling to Tucson from NJ at the very end of December this year. I was planning on coming across Rt. 70 from Clovis to Roswell to Ruidodo down to Las Cruces and then picking up 10 West. I would appreciate your feedback as to what typical kind of weather to expect at that time of year. Is snow a big concern and how is 70 at that time of year? Is 70 pretty well maintained? Isn't it a high elevation in that area of NM? Any major issues to be aware of? Thanks for your feedback.

[prosopis]

I drive the last bit of that often, from Alamo to LC. Occasionally from Ruidoso to LC. It is a nice wide highway with little traffic (at least by eastern standards ) and good shoulders. I drove up from Roswell once, but I don't remember it well.

Snow is the only thing you'll want to be wary of in December. NMDOT has a good site with up to date road closure and hazard info - it's not loading for me right now, but here's the link:
http://nmroads.com/

The thing about snow here is that just an inch can make for very slippery conditions. Usually the ground is quite warm even in the winter, so the initial snow melts and re-freezes, giving you ice with snow on top. It's unusual to get snow as far down as Alamogordo or LC, but not unheard of. I once spent a dull night in Alamo due to snow.

So keep an eye on the road info and the National Weather Service pages for the area, odds are you won't have to fight any storms anyway.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by FedupwithNJ

I would appreciate your feedback as to what typical kind of weather to expect at that time of year.

That is the coldest time of the winter season and predicting snow is a crap shoot. Assuming there is a region-wide snow storm, there can be icy conditions the entire route from the Texas panhandle west to a point near the Rio Grande. But that lasts only a few hours once the sun comes out and the snow stops. Most treacherous section will be from Ruidoso to a point half way between Mescalero and Tularosa where the highway reaches its highest elevation at Apache Summit. US-70 is a major artery and receives prompt snow removal from the state hiway dept, but that doesn't necessarily rid the roadway of ice as snow melts and re-freezes.

[FedupwithNJ]

Thank you both. I really appreciate your comments. Hope I can reciprocate someday!

[joqua]

Bringing this thread to the fore since it's relative to the current dangerous conditions throughout the length of US-70 east of Tularosa, and eastern NM in general.

I have no idea what the actual snowfall measurement is for this current storm system. Here in the village of Ruidoso winds have been gusting from the NE throughout the hours the snow has fallen, blowing it around so that any measurement isn't going to be too accurate. But I have measured almost 24 inches so far at my house and Ski Apache has posted "over 3 ft." on their web pages.

Whatever the depth is, it has caused widespread highway closures all across the eastern plains of NM and the Texas panhandle. Temperatures have been well below freezing since yesterday (Sat.) afternoon with a high recorded at 21F(+/-) around the area. The governor has issued a "civil emergency" alert requesting that people not drive at all, and especially not around barricades put in place to indicate highway closures.

Forecast for the coming week through the New Year weekend is for very low temps and highs around the freezing mark each day. Lows to be in the low teens to single digits.

As of this message, typed at 4pm Sunday, Dec. 27, it is still snowing in Ruidoso but radar shows the system now centered to the SE of the area. The current road closure map shows virtually every highway closed east of IH-25 in the east half of the state.

[GregW]

Looks like tough driving. Be careful out there.


FWIW - first snow just fell in New Hampshire followed by sleet and freezing rain.

[DOUBLE H]

A lot of online sources as well as the Weather Channel are calling this "Storm Goliath." Yesterday afternoon the Weather Channel showed pictures of Clovis and its eight to ten foot snow drifts. Amarillo got 30 inches out of this storm, Lubbock over a foot as well. As far as this thread concentrating on route 70, I'll bet the NM DOT drivers have their hands full. It's a long haul from Roswell to Tatum, I imagine the Roswell maintenance work yard has their hands full with snow removal. Most likely the work yard out of Hobbs is pitching in as Hobbs is closer. Geez, what a storm!