It was another windy Friday across New Mexico today with peak gusts reaching 45-60 mph for the north. Gallup recorded 59 mph and Las Vegas reached 52 mph. Stronger wind gusts continue tonight bringing much colder air and moisture from the northeast. This is also having an effect on the smoke increasing towards Taos and Santa Fe. Wind gusts will continue overnight 20-30 mph for the east as this powerful late season storm dives into our state. Although we’ll miss out on the record cold and snow, our temps will cool down dramatically this weekend especially east. High temperatures will only be in the lower to middle 50s across northeast NM Saturday. This is 15-25° cooler than this past week and will wipe away the near record heat. The RGV will still be warm, but more seasonal with highs in the lower 80s. This change in our weather will set up a canyon wind into the ABQ metro area later Saturday into Sunday as another front drops through.
With the higher wind gusts, more red flag conditions are expected Saturday afternoon for the west central highlands and Rio Grande Valley. But some moisture and higher dew points arrive late weekend into early next week. So scattered afternoon showers and storms will be the result. This will greatly help fire relief efforts despite the breezy weather continuing.