The large storm system that brought powerful wind gusts, rain, lightning, and even snow across the state is quickly pushing northeast. It may bring a few showers/storms to far northeast New Mexico this afternoon, but the biggest impact from the departing storm system will be winds. The northern half of the state will see sustained winds 20-30 mph with gusts 40-50 mph this afternoon. A Wind Advisory and Red Flag Warnings are in effect east/northeast. Unfortunately, this is not great news for the Las Tusas fire near Sapello but it won’t be nearly as windy as yesterday.
Temperatures will rebound into Friday with plenty of sunshine and much calmer winds. A fantastic end to the week is in store, before moisture surges across the east into Saturday along a backdoor cold front. This front will bring gusty east canyon winds across the central Rio Grande Valley, up to 35-50 mph into early Saturday morning. The moisture will bring thick cloud coverage to the state by Saturday afternoon, again moving from east to west. Showers and storms are possible Saturday evening, with more widespread rainfall arriving Sunday.
There is still a lot of uncertainty with this weekend’s storm system. Rain looks to start falling in eastern New Mexico Saturday morning as it slowly tries to push east across the Central Mountain Chain. The eastern parts of the state will most likely see the heaviest rainfall, lowest amounts over the central Rio Grande Valley. Saturday has the better potential of seeing more thunderstorms, while Sunday has the better potential to bring wetting rain. Rain chances continue into early to mid next week. Details will hopefully come into better alignment in the coming days.
