Fire danger continues Wednesday with windier weather, but a chance for storms move into eastern New Mexico. A few storms will be strong and severe.
Strong winds Tuesday continue to fuel the fires burning in northern New Mexico. A dry line is sparking off thunderstorms in extreme southeastern New Mexico, along the Texas state line. Storms will come to an end after sunset as the winds will be dying down around the same time.
Windier weather returns again Wednesday afternoon with south-southwesterly winds gusting to over 50 mph across parts of western and northern New Mexico. This will once again create a very high fire danger across the entire western half of New Mexico with extremely dry air also in place. Meanwhile in eastern New Mexico, southerly winds will draw in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, setting up a dry line across this part of the state. In the afternoon, this dry line will be the focus for scattered showers and thunderstorms, a few of which will be severe. Strong winds, damaging hail, and heavy rain will be possible. Once again, storms move out of New Mexico around sunset as the winds will also die down.
Quieter weather begins to move in starting Thursday. Winds will still be breezy across much of the state on Thursday as dry air replaces the moisture that moved in on Wednesday. Red Flag Warnings will continue Thursday afternoon. By Friday though and into the weekend, an area of high pressure builds into the state. This will finally give us a much needed break from the windy weather. It will also bring in even warmer temperatures and keep the dry air in place through at least early next week.
