Good Sunday morning everyone! Buckle up, it’s going to be another active weather day all across the state. It’s certainly not beginning that way with mild temperatures and mainly sunny skies for most of central and western NM. There’s been some lighter rain showers in Chaves and Lea counties. Hobbs even has some reduced visibility from fog. We’ll quickly change all that with powerful wind gusts blasting the state all day. Near hurricane force wind gusts (65-70+ mph) are once again in store for areas from the Sandia/Manzano mountains southward into the south central mountains. So plan accordingly this afternoon with rapidly falling temperatures, some lighter rain and snow showers, and cold wind chills values.

Snow accumulations will be fairly light given the lack of moisture and quick moving pace of the storm. But winter weather advisories are in effect for the northern mountain zones where 4-8″ could fall over the peaks. Otherwise, this storm is all about the wind. We’ll clear out later this evening as temps plunge. Monday we’ll catch a break from the high winds for west and central NM. Highs will reach the middle 50s in the Rio Grande Valley and middle 60s east of the mountains under sunny skies. We’ll still contend with some locally breezy conditions east of the central mountains. As we close the books on February and begin meteorological spring on Wednesday, more strong wind gusts are in the forecast. We’ll continue our active and stormy weather pattern with another one arriving late Wednesday into Thursday.