Winter Weather Alert Sparks Warning of Snow in the Desert

A desert community in New Mexico could receive some snow as a storm system moves into the area this weekend.

Torrential rain from an offshore Pacific storm made landfall in southern California on Thursday, and the downpours continue to travel eastward. A special weather statement from the National Weather Service (NWS) warned that the storm system will bring "widespread valley rain and high elevation snow" to western New Mexico by Saturday morning.

"This spreads into the Rio Grande Valley and the highlands along the Central Mountain Chain by mid-day and the afternoon," the statement said. "Snow levels will start off around 8,500 to 9,000 feet before falling to 7,000 to 7,500 feet late Saturday. Slick wet roads will exist at lower elevations with snowpacked and icy roads at high mountain passes of western and northern NM."

The weather is forecast to bring several inches of snow to parts of southwestern New Mexico. Snow is not uncommon for the higher elevations in New Mexico, but NWS meteorologist Matt DeMaria told Newsweek that the desert community of Albuquerque could also see light snowfall.

Albuquerque is north of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is the largest desert in North America, and also the wettest, according to a report by the National Park Service (NPS).

If snow falls in Albuquerque, DeMaria said it would likely be on Saturday night, although meteorologists aren't expecting much accumulation.

Newsweek reached out to AccuWeather by email for comment.

Rain also is forecast to fall, bringing up to a half-inch of precipitation to Albuquerque, which would push the area's monthly rainfall totals above average.

The NWS office in Albuquerque posted a graphic on X, formerly Twitter, that showed where snow would fall and how much would accumulate across the state. Snow could reach up to 18 inches in the New Mexico mountain peaks.

"Slick holiday travel is likely Friday night through Saturday night over much of the area," the NWS office warned when posting the graphic.

The deluge soaked southern California on Thursday, causing more than a month's worth of rain in only one hour in Oxnard.

The storm could be a taste of what's to come this season, given El Niño, one of two climate patterns that greatly affect Earth's weather. La Niña culminated in the spring, ending a multiyear period in which the pattern influenced the weather.

El Niño started in June, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's most recent update gave it high odds of being historically strong.

That means parts of California, including southern California, could see another wet winter after experiencing excessive rain and more than a dozen atmospheric rivers last winter.