Extreme weather slapped state in 2011

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - New Mexico has always been known for interesting and diverse weather, but 2011 will go down in the history books for extreme weather.

The year started of with a blast of cold air that led to a natural gas crisis crippling many New Mexico cities and towns for nearly a week.

Electric space heaters lit up rooms in early February while crews worked to restore gas to 30,000 homes from Taos to Bernalillo to Tularosa.

Heavy use and strain on the system was to blame.

School and businesses were forced to close.

"It's been pretty devastating but even more so for our employees," a manger at a Bernalillo restaurant said in February.

It go so bad Gov. Susana Martinez declared a state of emergency.

"We are asking people to turn down their thermostats," she told News 13 during the gas crisis.

The spring brought the usual windy conditions to New Mexico, but this year was one of the windiest in recent memory.

The wind blew construction dirt in the air as well as undoing hairdos downtown.

In June haze choked many New Mexicans for weeks as smoke from the Wallow Fire in Arizona blew east into the state.

The poor visibility was miserable but made for some interesting sunset pictures.

The next smoke we would see would be from the biggest wildfire in New Mexico history, the Las Conchas fire.

It burned more than 150,000, destroyed 60-plus homes and force the evacuation of thousands from Los Alamos.

The blaze sparked by a downed power line in late June was finally contained in early August.

After the fires came the floods.

The famed Dixon's Apple Orchard was left bare from the fire allowing heavy rain to race down the canyons.

"It was hit so hard by the fire, it's just one huge funnel at this point," Sandoval County Deputy Fire Chief Jess Lewis said.

The orchard will take years to recover from the flames and floods.

This last month of the year ended on a positive weather note for precipitation even as highway closures stranded thousands of travelers, a few of whom waited days to be rescued.

Five major snow storms pounded the state in December bringing much needed moisture to a drought-stricken state.