NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A powerful storm system will bring widespread, damaging wind gusts to New Mexico Wednesday. Heavy snow will also accompany this storm, bringing blizzard and near-blizzard conditions to western and northern parts of the state.
Scattered showers and mountain snow are streaming into New Mexico ahead of Wednesday’s storm. The rain and shower activity will continue through the evening. Winds have also picked up even more so today and will continue to gain strength even overnight – mainly in southern New Mexico.
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Impacts from Wednesday’s storm will begin as early as the morning when damaging wind gusts develop across the state. A band of heavy snow will move into western New Mexico by the morning, bringing with it blowing snow and blizzard to near-blizzard conditions across higher elevations and mountains. Moisture will move into the Rio Grande Valley by early Wednesday afternoon bringing snow around Santa Fe and into the northern mountains, a mix of rain and snow into the Albuquerque metro, with rain to the south. Moisture will continue to move east bringing heavy snowfall to the Sacramento and Sangre de Cristo mountains with more blizzard to near-blizzard conditions.
In addition to the rain and snow, damaging winds will develop Wednesday morning with the strongest winds from noon to 3:00 p.m. Widespread wind gusts over 50 mph will be likely, with some gusts reaching as high as 85 mph. These winds could knock down trees (especially over recent burn scars), power lines, and high-profile vehicles. Expect some power outages across parts of the state. Winds do die down quickly Wednesday night.
Breezy to windy conditions will continue for parts of New Mexico into the end of the week snow will linger across parts of northern and western New Mexico, along with southern Colorado. Warmer weather will begin to return on Friday. Another storm will bring rain, snow, and more wind on Sunday.
