Officials continue to urge caution on roads

CMI staff writers

Road workers are salting and sanding roads, but officials caution area residents to stay home today if possible.

Seven-plus inches of snow and ice continue to make driving treacherous, they say.

The only weather-related death in the region occurred Friday when a 4-year-old child was killed in a Roosevelt County automobile accident.

link Kayleigh Bachman, 4, plays with her dog Winston in their back yard in Portales.

Although the New Mexico Department of Transportation has all roads open in the area, and a majority of schools closed Monday, Clovis Police Chief Steve Sanders said the department is mainly concerned about motorists venturing out onto the ice-covered roads.

"If you’ve got to get out," he said, "you’ve just got to be extremely careful."

Roosevelt County Emergency Management Director Keith Wattenbarger said Saturday and Sunday was a change from Friday’s “treacherous” conditions.

Wattenbarger said icy roads caught many people off guard, resulting in more than 40 automobile accidents in the county.

He said most people played it safe Saturday and Sunday by staying off the roads. Wattenbarger said Monday the roads should thaw, then ice over at night.

“So far, I think we’ll be OK. I don’t see anything out there that’s earth-shattering,” Wattenbarger said. “We just have to use some discretion. For the most part, everybody did a great job.”

Wattenbarger said he’s most concerned about U.S. 70 becoming icy Monday night. “Don’t travel at all unless you have to,” he said. “The schools did the right thing. I think that was an excellent decision because it’s better to not congest the roads.”

link Submitted by TheoDora DeVore

Jazmariah DeVore, 9, Dylan DeVore, 7, and Mescalito DeVore, 5, had a super hero snow experience at their house in Portales.

Meteorologist Jason Frazier with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said there will be light snow showers coming down into Clovis and Portales from Tucumcari this morning, tapering off around 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. Frazier said that should be the end of precipitation for the next few days.

“We’re still expecting freezing temperatures overnight and through at least Friday morning,” he said of the region. “That will continue to be an issue.”

Motorists should take extra care, as snow that melts during the day can freeze overnight and cause slick road conditions.

Frazier also said west Texas and the Amarillo area saw more freezing rain than eastern New Mexico, and anyone traveling into the area should contact the Texas Department of Transportation to see what road conditions are like before heading out.

Area snowfall totals, according to NWS:

• Clovis – 7.5 inches

•
Fort Sumner – 1.5 – 2 inches

• Melrose – 9 inches

• Portales – 7.5 inches

•
Tucumcari – 3 inches

Snow trivia:

• Snow in November is not unusual in eastern New Mexico. The region received 22.5 inches of snow in November 1911. That’s the most snow recorded in the Clovis-Portales area in a single month, National Weather Service statistics show.

link Submitted by Jacqueline Duran

Diego Duran, 5, enjoys the weather at his home in Arch.

• Clovis has received more than 30 inches of snow in a season just twice since NWS began keeping records – 43.3 inches in 1911-12 and 38 inches in 1982-83.

• Most area towns received 6 to 11 inches of snow this weekend, according to weather.com

• The region’s most deadly winter storm occurred Dec. 9-10, 1923. A foot of snow and high winds left 5-foot drifts that stalled passenger trains. Eight people died in the blizzard, including six children. Three Grady school students died after they were let off a school bus and became disoriented and lost on the walk home.

• Here’s a link to New Mexico road conditions: www.nmroads.com