John Farley
Supporter
While chasers were on the severe storms in OK, KS, and points eastward, some interesting weather of a different type was occuring in NM. An isolated thundersnow storm developed near Espanola and moved southeast over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, dumping 5" of snow in the mountains above Santa Fe.
The picture above was taken around 6:00 p.m., as the cell moved off to the east and weakened. Still a decent updraft base near the middle of the picture, and the orange color to its lower right was from the setting sun illuminating the snow. Also notice the updraft towers at the lower left, as new convective snow showers developed on the other side of the mountains.
This morning I was up early to ski the fresh powder the storm dropped on Ski Santa Fe, and took my camera along to capture scenes like this:
There were some big drifts, as the storm was accompanied by strong wind, and the cloud base was lower than the mountain's 12,000+ foot summit, causing the trees to be coated with rime, which in turn accumulated some snow - creating a "winter wonderland" apppearance.
More photos, info, and a radar loop at:
http://www.johnefarley.com/snow22711.htm
The picture above was taken around 6:00 p.m., as the cell moved off to the east and weakened. Still a decent updraft base near the middle of the picture, and the orange color to its lower right was from the setting sun illuminating the snow. Also notice the updraft towers at the lower left, as new convective snow showers developed on the other side of the mountains.
This morning I was up early to ski the fresh powder the storm dropped on Ski Santa Fe, and took my camera along to capture scenes like this:
There were some big drifts, as the storm was accompanied by strong wind, and the cloud base was lower than the mountain's 12,000+ foot summit, causing the trees to be coated with rime, which in turn accumulated some snow - creating a "winter wonderland" apppearance.
More photos, info, and a radar loop at:
http://www.johnefarley.com/snow22711.htm
