Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Yolanda (left) and Sara Aragon, Tucumcari, put finishing touches on a snowman yearning for the tropics Saturday after seven to eight inches of snow fell on Quay County.
link Yolanda (left) and Sara Aragon, Tucumcari, put finishing touches
on a snowman yearning for the tropics Saturday after seven to eight inches of snow fell on Quay County.
QCS Managing Editor
Quay County awoke Saturday morning to thick snow, six to eight inches, and responded with snow shovels, slow driving, and having some fun.
Tucumcari and House received seven to eight inches of snow each and Logan stacked up six to seven inches, Jason Frazier, a National
Weather Service meteorologist based in Albuquerque, said.
For children enjoying their last weekend of winter break, it was a time to build snowmen and other snow sculptures. Even adults rolled and stacked snowballs to make snowmen.
Kids broke out sleds for some glide time on hills in and around Tucumcari.
Emergency dispatch radios blared stranded motorist notifications all day. State police logs show many calls for assistance on Interstate 40 and other roads.
Sgt. Chad Pierce, state police spokesperson, said that in District 9, which includes Quay, Curry, Roosevelt, DeBaca, Guadalupe and part of Torrance counties, state police racked up 47 motorist assistance calls and 15 accident reports, only two involving injuries.
Tucumcari police call logs show 10 incidents involving motorist assistance, vehicles off the road, and one ambulance call to help a woman who slipped on the ice.
“We had a lot of motorist assists, and tow-truck calls,” assistant police chief Pete Rivera said.
Tucumcari’s TrueValue Hardware store reported a run on snow shovels.
“We sold them all out,” Albert Baca, a store employee, said. “We had 15 to 18 of them before the weekend started.”
Tucumcari’s Tractor Supply Store didn’t have snow shovels, “but we sold a lot of grain scoops,” Michael Brazel, assistant manager, said. Grain scoops are shovels with wide, flat-edge blades and sides bent up for scooping.
A few motorists bought chains from Tucumcari’s NAPA Auto Parts store, too, owner Jim Hudson said.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation reported severe to difficult driving conditions on all state roads Saturday, including Interstate 40, U.S. Route 54 from Tucumcari to Nara Visa, State Highway 209 from Tucumcari to Clovis, Route 104 from Tucumcari to Las Vegas, and Route 469 from Grady to Logan.
On Sunday, temperatures below freezing kept most of the snow in place, but Monday and Tuesday temperatures during daylight were expected to be near 40 degrees, according to National Weather Service information.
More cold weather was expected Tuesday night and today, with temperatures dropping to the teens on Tuesday night and rising only to the mid-20s today, according to weather service information. Temperatures on Thursday were expected to rise to the 40s.
