Major winter storm still in forecast

Staff report

Well, we probably won’t see 29 inches of snow like some computer models were predicting early in the week.

But National Weather Service forecasters on Thursday continued to warn eastern New Mexico residents to expect a major winter storm starting Saturday around sunset.

“Significant accumulating snow appears most likely along and south of Interstate 40 ... as well as along and east of Interstate 25 to the Texas border,” NWS reported in a statement issued Thursday.

“The strong to high winds would create areas of greatly reduced visibilities in blowing and drifting snow with blizzard conditions for several hours.”

Wind gusts could be as high as 55 to 60 mph, NWS predicts.

The winds will likely make temperatures feel like they’re near zero Saturday night and Sunday morning.

On the bright side, NWS expects the snow will diminish Sunday night and “be mostly gone Monday.”

Clovis-Portales residents can expect somewhere between 8 and 16 inches of snow, according to Curry County Emergency Management Coordinator Dan Heerding and NWS officials.

It may stay on the ground awhile as high temperatures will be near freezing all of next week, forecasters predict.

Road crews around the state were preparing to sand intersections, but NWS predicted “dangerous winter travel conditions will be widespread if this storm develops as anticipated and many roads could close.”