Good Friday afternoon everyone! It’s a beautiful start to the weekend with mostly sunny skies over central and southern NM. But clouds are quickly arriving from the northwest this afternoon ahead of our next storm that grazes our state. The northern mountains will begin seeing rain and snow showers later this evening through Saturday. Chama is in a winter storm watch for heavier snow above 8,500 ft. Otherwise, the heaviest snow will stay into Colorado where more than a foot will fall into the San Juan Mountains through Saturday. Temps will be warm enough in Farmington and the surrounding area to see just rain showers.

Our weather in New Mexico will be quite mild and windy most of the weekend. Wind gusts continue strengthening throughout the day and into Saturday where high wind warnings are posted east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Gusts over 60 mph are likely into early Saturday. The high wind moves south throughout the day with gusts 30-40 mph in the metro. Highs today will soar into the upper 60s/lower 70s for the ABQ metro, upper 70s for Roswell, and middle 60s for Santa Fe. As this storm departs later in the weekend, a backdoor front will push through northeastern NM. So temperatures will cool dramatically for Clayton, Raton, and even Las Vegas into Sunday. Quieter weather begins next week until our next storm mid to late week.