Monsoon moisture surged across the state today, bringing more widespread showers and storms mainly along and west of the Central Mountain Chain. The heaviest rain fell across the south, with parts of the Gila and Hidalgo County picking up 0.05″-1.5″ this afternoon and evening. Only localized areas saw heavy rain, with the rest of the state dealing mostly with gusty outflow boundaries from nearby storms. The Four Corners felt the windiest conditions, with gusts in Cortez up to 62 mph.
Showers and storms will slowly die down overnight and into early Thursday morning. A surge of dry air will arrive to western New Mexico tomorrow, only bringing scattered storms along and east of the Central Mountain Chain besides isolated high elevations of the Gila. Even drier air will invade the state Friday and into the upcoming weekend.
Dry air will be ushered in across the state this weekend as high pressure returns to the Desert Southwest. High pressure with strengthen across southern New Mexico and Arizona into this weekend, allowing temperatures to build once again. More record breaking high temperatures are expected statewide Saturday and Sunday with sunny skies and dry air. The only exception may be an isolated storm over the Sacramento Mountains.
More hot temperatures are dry conditions will persist into next week. Unfortunately, even though August is usually the second wettest month of the year, below average precipitation is forecast for the western and southern parts of the state. Above average temperatures are expected this August statewide, with the most abnormal heat to the south.
