NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Tuesday will be lovely, feeling like spring outside with plenty of sunshine compared to Monday. Winds will be breezy but nothing too impressive, allowing temperatures to warm up a few degrees above yesterday. Upper level clouds will begin to stream into New Mexico from the northwest as a storm approaches the state.

The storm will arrive over southern Colorado and the Four Corners into Wednesday afternoon, bringing snow to the higher elevations and rain to the valley areas. It will continue to push south into the Gila, and east into the Northern Mountains overnight and into Thursday when a backdoor cold front will push southwest into the eastern half of New Mexico. This will bring temperatures down significantly, along with increasing chances for rain and snow east throughout the day Thursday. The only place that may remain dry is far southeast.

Even though the far southeast will be mostly dry, it will also be very windy. This will allow for increased fire danger across the eastern plains Wednesday afternoon. Winds will die down a bit into Thursday with more cloud coverage and precipitation. This precipitation may continue into Friday morning, before another storm system arrives into the weekend. This will have a better potential to bring the metro snow accumulation, but it is still highly uncertain at this point. After Wednesday, statewide temperatures will remain well below average into next week.