Desert Has Gotten More Snow in One Day Than NYC Has in Nearly 2 Years

A storm moving across the southern United States has dumped more snow on New Mexico in one day than New York City has received in nearly two years.

The storm is moving eastward from the Pacific this week. It arrived in New Mexico on Thursday morning and has already dumped seven inches of snow in the state's high-terrain areas.

Meanwhile, New York and other Interstate 95 corridor cities like Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., have seen limited snowfall since the 2022 winter season. New York City hasn't received an inch of snow from a single snowstorm since February 13, 2022, AccuWeather reported.

The city only received 2.3 inches of snow in all of 2023, prompting the local National Weather Service (NWS) office to call it the "least snowiness" year. Before 2023, the least amount of snow in New York City recorded in a year occurred in 1913, with 3.4 inches.

On Thursday morning, Gallup, New Mexico, received seven inches of snow. Gallup's average annual snowfall is just under two feet of snow, NWS meteorologist Randall Hergert told Newsweek.

Meanwhile, New York City's annual average is higher at nearly 30 inches of snow. Albuquerque's yearly snowfall average is much lower at only 9.3 inches, and it still received more snow than New York City did in 2023 at 4.1 inches.

Although the snow isn't abnormal for the desert state, considering its high terrain areas, it caused hazardous road conditions on Thursday morning. Dense fog accompanied the snow in some areas, making for low visibility.

The NWS office in Albuquerque posted about the road conditions on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday morning. The moderate-to-heavy snowfall was slow-moving in its trek across central New Mexico.

The NWS office posted several photos from road cameras that showed dangerous road conditions from the storm. Photos of the heavy snow accumulating elsewhere also were posted on social media the same morning.

"About 5-6 inches near Acoma. Hallelujah!" one X user posted, sharing a photo of their backyard blanketed in snow and their outdoor patio furniture covered in powder.

Snow may be in store for New York City, too. Meteorologists expect the storm to produce accumulating snow in the northeastern region on Sunday.

The amount of snow that falls is dependent on the track and strength of the storm. Given the tendency for storms approaching from the south to pull warm air from the Atlantic Ocean, it's possible that the incoming storm will do the same and produce a wintry mix rather than snow.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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