Good Saturday afternoon everyone! It was a sunny one, but the stronger northwesterly winds kept temperatures a bit chilly over northern and central New Mexico. Highs only climbed into the middle 50s for Taos, Clayton, and Las Vegas. Wind gusts peaked 30-40 mph from the backdoor cold front. With that said, extremely dry air is now arriving. And so, after sunset temperatures will drop quickly as most areas drip below freezing. The plus side of this, we’re looking at improving conditions for the Jemez as flooding will not be a major issue this weekend going forward.
Sunday will by far be the best day in the weekend with warming temps, sunny skies, and lighter southerly breezes in the afternoon. Some stronger gusts are likely for southwest NM into the Gila. But we’ll climb above average and begin our warming trend. We’ll be back in the lower 70s in the Rio Grande Valley and 80s south. Come Monday clouds begin increasing as well as breezier conditions statewide. This brings widespread 80° temperatures for all of southern and eastern New Mexico. The windiest days next week will be Tuesday and Wednesday as a scraper storm system brushes our state. We all stay dry, but we’ll see stronger winds with increasing fire danger.
