NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – High pressure will continue to dominate the weather across the Desert Southwest today. This will allow for plenty of sunshine, calm winds, and even warmer temperatures this afternoon. Warm highs are still forecast Wednesday with gusts 15-25 mph, before high pressure begins to break down into Thursday.
As the high pressure breaks down Wednesday afternoon, windier conditions and more moisture will move over the state. Most of the moisture will be in the upper levels of the atmosphere, bringing more clouds coverage and chances for precipitation in the high terrain of western and northern New Mexico. Low elevations will remain very dry, evaporating a lot of the rain before it reaches the surface. This is known as virga, which will create even windier conditions underneath the dry showers/storms.
Thursday will be drier, but with more clouds across the northern half of the state. More clouds may keep winds a bit calmer, but still seeing gusts 30-40 mph and even stronger over the mountains. It will also be a bit cooler Thursday because of the clouds. Friday is now trending a lot drier, with partly cloudy conditions and even cooler temperatures as a cold front moves across the state. Still seasonable and mostly dry Friday, with windy conditions up to 40-50 mph across parts of the state. More sunshine and calmer conditions will return this weekend.
