Winter in Southern New Mexico typically brings a few dustings of snow atop the Organ Mountains and some mighty frosty mornings, but nothing too extreme – and the sunny, mild 65-degree afternoons usually make up for any frigid discomforts. The higher elevations got dumped on a few nights ago, and by dumped I mean this:

And this:

I actually snagged the above two images from the LC Sun News website as a coincidental breakdown of my truck is now preventing me from venturing beyond the confines of my daily travels. I must say the mountains look stunning and alive with a blanket of white over them.

Today I managed to snap a few shots of the mountains from the open field of the Masonic Cemetery, as it provides some nice panoramic views of the entire range. Low-laying misty clouds and chilly temps = some lovely wintertime desert sunsets.

As I type this entry it’s snowing again and has been for the past 2 hours, so I expect to take a few more pictures tomorrow morning and post an update.

EDIT: It indeed continued snowing during the night and I woke up to a frosty, icy winter wonderland. Because seeing snow is so rare for me, I decided to take a leisurely walk to work instead of risking a slip-n-slide on my bicycle. Seeing cactus covered in snow is an odd sight and I imagine much of the plant & animal life in this area struggle with such cold temperatures. Like this bird:

It was as if he just dropped out of the sky in mid-flight. Just couldn’t take it.

I got some shots of the peaks of the Organ Mountains were poking up through the low-lying foggy clouds before the sun burned everything away.