It was a beautiful spring day today with mainly sunny skies and mild temperatures. Highs climbed into the middle 60s in Albuquerque, 59° in Santa Fe and 78° in Roswell. We’ll do even better Sunday with stronger winds. Overnight tonight, we’re in store for quieter weather with clear skies. The winds begin strengthening east of the Sangre de Cristo first before dawn. The rest of the state follows suit later in the morning. Unfortunately, the high wind gusts are coming back with a vengeance in this forecast for several days.
By Sunday afternoon, gusts will be fairly widespread throughout the state. Peak wind gusts of 35-45 mph will raise some fire concerns over eastern NM given the very dry air and warm temps in place. Highs will warm into the 70s for the ABQ metro and into the 80s southeast under sunny skies. We’ll have more high wind watches and continued red flag conditions throughout the state beginning Sunday all the way into Tuesday ahead of our next major storm system. This one will pack damaging winds, blowing dust, and rapidly falling temps Tuesday. It’ll also have some dangerous crosswinds on the highways. So be prepared for some highly impactful weather conditions early to midweek. The cold front comes blasting through New Mexico tanking temperatures 25°. We’re in store for some colder nights before warming back up late week into Easter weekend.
