49th Anniversary of Albuquerque's Big Freeze of 1971

(Pictures from the Facebook group "Albuquerque Memories.")

Most winters, very cold air races south from Canada into the Great Plains east of the Rockies, but every forty years, or so, the arctic freeze also includes the West. In January 1971, a severe cold snap settled in New Mexico. Pipes froze that had never frozen before. On the coldest day, the low was -24 degrees Fahrenheit in Corrales. At times, temperatures were actually higher on Sandia Crest, a mile above the city, than they were in the city itself.

Our usual practice of sleeping in the unheated part of the house through the winter became dangerous. We grabbed sleeping bags and moved our beds into the Family Room, where at least we had some heat.

We took in a stray, tailless cat we found outside that was in danger of freezing. One night, around midnight, the stray cat decided to attack our parakeet. The cat knocked over the cage as it attacked and the bird escaped. Chaos followed as we piled out of our sleeping bags and chased the predatory cat and the dazed bird in semi-darkness. My sister grabbed the cat’s throat just as the cat caught the bird. The bird survived. Upset, we flung the ungrateful cat outside.

The cold snap was repeated in February, 2011. Natural gas providers failed to deliver fuel to many shivering people, compounding the misery.