A lot more moisture has arrived to New Mexico, with showers beginning to pop up across the state this afternoon. A lot of the rain isn’t reach the ground and isn’t expected to across the lower elevations of western New Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley with very dry air at the surface. Dry showers or thunderstorms will create virga, or rain that evaporates before it reaches the ground, and brings localized gustier winds.
The eastern half of the state is seeing a lot more moisture with a southerly breeze, and cloud coverage has kept their temperatures a bit cooler. These clouds are beginning to erode, which will allow temperatures to quickly warm. The best chance to see heavier rainfall and thunderstorms today and tomorrow with be across the far northeast.
Snow is falling in southern Colorado right now, expected to move over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and over to Raton Pass Tuesday night and into Wednesday as a cold front moves across the state. The cold front will bring better chances for rain across east and central New Mexico, with dry and windy conditions to the west. The dry air and wind gusts have allowed fire danger to return, with a Fire Weather Watch in effect Tuesday across the Four Corners and far southwest/southern part of the state.
By Wednesday afternoon, the storm will lose most of it’s energy and moisture. This will allow for more sunshine and calmer, drier conditions across the state. However, with the cold front passage, temperature Wednesday afternoon will be 5-15° cooler than Tuesday. Temperatures will quickly rebound by the late week as calmer weather and more sunshine arrives. However, another cold front is on the way Friday. Remain weather aware the week, with a lot more moisture than we have seen all April.
