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Thundersnow in New Mexico

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute GOES-18 Infrared images (10.3 µm, left) and Visible images (0.64 µm, right) with plots of GLM Flash Points (white dots), a Special Weather Statement issued at 2311 UTC (white polygon) and METAR surface reports (cyan), from 2132 UTC on 08 January to 0001 UTC on 09 January; Interstate highways are plotted in red [click to play MP4 animation]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-18 (GOES-West) Infrared and Visible images (above) included plots of GLM Flash Points — which showed an area of convection that produced thundersnow with 1/4 mile visibility at Grant, New Mexico (KGNT), and prompted the issuance of a Special Weather Statement with mention of a snow squall affecting areas that included a portion of I-40 east of Grant late in the day on 08 January 2026.

A larger-scale view of 1-minute GOES-18 Infrared images (below) extended past sunset — when convection with lightning produced more thundersnow at Double Eagle II (KAEG) just NW of Albuquerque International Airport (KABQ). A Special Weather Statement was issued at 0035 UTC (image | text) as this thunderstorm began to produce accumulating graupel — graupel (GR) was later reported at KABQ, beginning at 0104 UTC (METARs). A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was then issued for that storm as it produced 1.00-inch diameter hail at 0100 UTC.

1-minute GOES-18 Infrared (10.3 µm) images with an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density, plots of GLM Flash Points (white dots), Special Weather Statements (white polygons) and METAR surface reports (cyan), from 2142 UTC on 08 January to 0101 UTC on 09 January [click to play MP4 animation]

In a toggle between the GOES-18 Infrared image at 0050 UTC that included GLM Flash Points with/without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density (below), note that the 2 GLM Flash Points are parallax-corrected (to match their location at the surface), while the GLM Flash Extent Density gridded product is *not* parallax-corrected (and therefore exhibited a slight NNE displacement in GOES-18 imagery).

GOES-18 Infrared (10.3 µm) image at 0050 UTC on 09 January with plots of GLM Flash Points (white dots) — with/without an overlay of GLM Flash Extent Density [click to enlarge]

The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures of the thunderstorm in the vicinity of Albuquerque — around -50ºC — were just below the Most Unstable (MU) air parcel’s Equilibrium Level (EL), according to a plot of rawinsonde data from KABQ (below).

Plot of rawinsonde data from Albuquerque, New Mexico at 0000 UTC on 09 January [click to enlarge]

Categories: GLM, GOES-18, Lightning, Severe convection, Winter weather