Strong wind gusts arrived this afternoon bringing 40-50 mph gusts over the northern half of the state. Unfortunately, we’ve also quickly seen some brush fires follow suit from the dry, gusty winds. Highs temps thanks to these gusts, reached 73° in Albuquerque, 86° for Roswell, and 67° Santa Fe, and 68° Farmington. Skies remain clear throughout the rest night into Monday morning. Red flag warnings are posted and will also remain in place statewide through Tuesday as very high fire danger continues with damaging wind gusts on the way.
Temperatures will be the warmest, so far this year, Monday with upper 80s southeast and middle 70s for the Rio Grande Valley. We’ll see strong southwesterly winds and mostly sunny skies again. By Monday lunchtime, conditions rapidly deteriorate as the next storm plows through New Mexico. We’ll have dangerous crosswinds on the highways with near hurricane force wind gusts, similar to some of the wind storms in February. And so, more blowing dust is in the forecast as temperatures drop 25-30° behind the cold front Tuesday. We’ll finally calm down midweek and begin warming up heading into Easter weekend. A ridge of high pressure looks to build into the region at this time, warming our temperatures dramatically and shutting down the wind machine.
