Arctic cold front moves in overnight with some wintry weather

Winter Weather Advisories, Freeze Warnings, and Freeze Watches have been issued across much of New Mexico and southern Colorado as we head overnight and throughout Sunday. Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, and could potentially damage outdoor plumbing

The Arctic cold front pushes south tonight across eastern New Mexico, bringing much colder temperatures. As it pushes south, it will also bring snow along the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, a mix of light rain, sleet, and very light freezing rain across northeast and east-central New Mexico, and spotty showers in the southeast part of the state. The backdoor cold front will push into the Rio Grande Valley by Sunday afternoon, bringing a gusty east canyon wind by the evening.

Heading into Sunday evening, light rain will move into northwestern portions of New Mexico, switching over to light to moderate snowfall over the northern mountains and the San Juan Mountains in southern Colorado. Temperatures will then drop quickly across the rest of New Mexico. A possibility of a light rain/snow mix for the Albuquerque Metro overnight Sunday into Monday morning, however, no accumulation is expected. Higher elevations across northern New Mexico and southern Colorado could see accumulations up to 10″ through Monday morning.

Many areas across New Mexico will wake up Monday to their first freeze of the season, with cold afternoon high temperatures across the state in the afternoon. Even colder overnight low temperatures settle in Tuesday morning, but a very slow warming trend will start Tuesday afternoon.