It’s the holiday weekend, and we’re still talking about summer temperatures. It’s a fairly hot Friday afternoon out there with temps well into the 90s for many cities across the state. Santa Fe even reached into the lower 90s, shying only a couple degrees away from the record high. Dry air is the culprit for the hotter/above average temps this afternoon. Otherwise, we’re staying mainly dry through the evening with the exception of the northern mountain zones. A couple of weak thunderstorms are possible near Taos/Espanola/Santa Fe through 7 PM. The Zozobra event looks mainly dry with clearing conditions later tonight.
Saturday will see the highest rain coverage for the area as a weak disturbance rotates around a dominant ridge of high pressure over Utah. So somewhat cooler temperatures and scattered PM storms are likely especially over the higher terrain north and west of the metro. Temps will reach the upper 80s for Albuquerque, lower 80s for Santa Fe, and upper 80s for Roswell. The hottest temperatures will generally be found across western NM, closer to the ridge of high pressure. The Farmington area will even contend with near record highs into early next week. We’ll see much drier conditions to close our holiday day weekend Sunday and Monday, other than an isolated mountain storm. The drier weather continues mid to late week until some tropical moisture tries to nudge northward into the state. Our highs will trend into the upper 80s rather consistently for Albuquerque/Rio Rancho.
