By james art 
Nov. 2 — Santa Fe will be hit with the first snowfall of the season this weekend, starting Sunday night and continuing into Monday, with the worst expected Monday morning.
After things clear up on Tuesday, another, possibly stronger, storm is forecast to hit the area late Thursday afternoon and evening.
It’s expected to start with cold temperatures and high levels of precipitation Sunday night leading into Monday morning, which is expected to be 33 degrees at 8 a.m. and snowing, according to the National Weather Service.
“Don’t expect too much accumulation early on,” said Andrew Church, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.
“But when it gets a little heavier Monday morning, the higher elevations of Santa Fe could potentially see several inches of accumulation,” he added, pointing to lawns, parks and roads as potential targets for accumulation.
The storm will target higher elevations with light to moderate snowfall, which will affect road conditions, with lower elevation areas affected by lighter snowfall and road impacts. According to a National Weather Service briefing, snow is expected to fall to an elevation of 6,500 feet — Santa Fe sits at just over 7,000 feet — but could fall as low as 5,500 feet.
“A rear cold front is moving in from the northeast [New Mexico] Sunday night could allow snow and sleet to affect areas as far south as [Interstate 40] corridor … Temperatures will be low enough in higher terrain for slippery and dangerous travel Sunday night and Monday, especially above 8,000” feet, the briefing said.
Hyde Park Road, which leads to the Santa Fe Ski Area, will be hit especially hard, potentially getting more than a foot of snow, Church said.
“There will probably be a lot of people out and about checking out the fresh snowfall.” We are just asking them to go slow and be careful,” he said.
The snow from this storm will mostly melt by Tuesday’s sunny morning, bringing temperatures up to 48 degrees, but the snow will return more heavily on Thursday, Church said, with even colder air and potentially more -heavy snowfall Sunday through -Monday storm.
By Thursday, winds will increase to around a steady high of 17 mph and temperatures will hover around 35 degrees – high levels of precipitation and lingering low temperatures, meaning continued snow is forecast for Friday afternoon.
“Especially late Thursday afternoon and evening, if we get a heavy snow band quickly, we could see a potentially more impactful storm,” he said.