Strong winds will relax as the sun sets tonight. Scattered showers will push north across New Mexico this weekend.
A strong jet stream crossing New Mexico brought very windy weather to parts of the state. The strongest winds today have been in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, where gusts were clocked in at over 70 mph around Raton, Clayton, and Las Vegas, with an 81 mph gust at the Wolf Creek Pass. Winds have completely died down tonight, but are breezy along a backdoor cold front entering northeast New Mexico. This cold front will drop high temperatures as much as 25° across the eastern part of the state by Saturday.
An increase in moisture and cloud cover will also keep temperatures cooler statewide Saturday. Scattered showers will develop across southwest New Mexico Saturday morning. This band of showers will push northward through the day Saturday, eventually making up to the I-40 corridor by the afternoon. The heaviest of the rain will taper off through the evening, but a few isolated showers will continue overnight. Another round of scattered showers will return Sunday afternoon, mainly across the western half of New Mexico. Some light snow will be possible in the northern mountains.
Drier weather returns Monday, but so does the wind. Winds will stay breezy across parts of the state into the middle of next week as our weather pattern stays active. Scattered showers will once again return to the northern, central, and western parts of the New Mexico next Tuesday and Wednesday.