The wind has arrived this afternoon bringing gusts of 40-50 mph over the northern half of the state. We’ve already seen some fire conditions break out this afternoon from the dry, gusty winds.

Highs temps, thanks to these gusts, reached the middle 70s in Albuquerque, middle 80s for Roswell, and middle 60s for Santa Fe and Farmington. Skies will remain clear throughout the rest of the day and into tonight.

Red flag warnings are posted and will also remain in place statewide through Tuesday as very high fire danger continues with damaging wind gusts on the way.

Forecast Continues Below

Temperatures will be the warmest so far this year Monday with upper 80s southeast and middle 70s for the Rio Grande Valley.

We’ll see strong southwesterly winds and mostly sunny skies again. So enjoy the relatively calmer day today, because conditions rapidly deteriorate later in the day into Tuesday as the next storm plows through New Mexico. We’ll have dangerous crosswinds on the highways with near hurricane-force wind gusts once again, similar to some of the wind storms in February.

More blowing dust as temperatures also drop 25° behind that cold front later Tuesday west to east. We’ll finally calm down midweek and begin warming up heading into Easter weekend. A ridge of high pressure looks to build into the region at this time, warming our temperatures dramatically.