A cold front will bring a very powerful canyon wind into the Albuquerque metro overnight. Widespread chances for rain begin Saturday and will stick around for several days.
Quieter weather returned Friday afternoon with warmer temperatures. Winds were still a bit breezy in the eastern plains, but not as windy as the last couple of days. Our weather begins to change pretty dramatically beginning tonight as a cold front starts pushing into the state. This front will bring wind gusts up to 65 mph in the Albuquerque metro early Saturday morning as it pushes through the East Canyon. Winds will die down by mid-Saturday morning, but it will remain breezy through the day with cooler temperatures.
More importantly, rain chances will return to New Mexico starting Saturday. A surge of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico combining with the backdoor cold front will bring an increase in dew points all across the state Saturday. This increase in moisture will also come with an upper level disturbance that will cross north across eastern New Mexico this weekend. This means that we will see a mix of rain and thunderstorms across the eastern half of New Mexico, with the potential for heavy rainfall too. In the western half of the state this weekend, we will see a better chance for isolated showers and thunderstorms.
This wet pattern will continue through next week with daily chances for showers and thunderstorms. The pattern will continue to favor eastern New Mexico for heavier rainfall with lighter rainfall amounts west of the central mountain chain.
