February 2022 Arctic Blast

February 2022 Arctic Blast

Cooler temperatures began to ooze into northeast New Mexico late on February 1st, but on February 2nd, a much colder arctic airmass quickly pushed southward through the eastern plains and westward through the gaps of the Central Mountain Chain. Meanwhile, a storm system was also crossing the state blanketing the area with widespread significant snow. Those snow totals can be found here. The combination of much colder air invading the state and fresh snow cover resulted in a prolonged period of sub-freezing temperatures. Dangerously cold wind chills were also noted across portions of northern and eastern New Mexico during the early morning hours of February 4th. Interestingly, this occurred almost exactly one year after the deep freeze of February 2021. The graphs below note the consecutive hours below freezing for select central and eastern New Mexico locations through February 8th. Wind chill is also plotted where applicable. Though for most locations, the duration of consecutive hours at or below freezing was not as long as last year, it was still impactful. Click on any graph for a larger view.

Albuquerque	Clovis

Clayton	Las Vegas

Roswell	Raton

Santa Fe	Tucumcari