Good Saturday morning everyone! We’re waking up to some cold temperatures for northern NM. We have some spots in the teens for Taos and into the northern mountains. So you’ll need those heavier coats for a few hours this morning before we warm up later today. We’re in for some great weather this weekend as wind speeds slowly strengthen once again. High temperatures will climb close to average this afternoon with upper 50s north, middle 60s central, and middle 70s south. We’ll have a few clouds this morning move through southern and central parts of the state, otherwise we’ll be mainly sunny. Some stronger wind gusts are likely over the northeast plains over 40 mph this afternoon.
The high wind gusts are something we’ll have plenty of the next few days. By Sunday afternoon, gusts will be fairly widespread throughout the state. Peak wind gusts of 35-45 mph will raise some fire concerns for 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 packed 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.
