Strong winds will continue into the weekend. A cold front will bring rain and snow to parts of the state tonight along with colder temperatures Saturday.
It was another warm afternoon across much of New Mexico, but the winds are back. 50+ mph wind gusts have been recorded out along the Arizona state line, with many seeing wind gusts over 35 mph today. Winds are still gusty tonight, with wind gusts over 30 mph sticking around through Saturday morning. A cold front will also be moving across New Mexico tonight. Along this front, rain and snow will develop. Light snowfall accumulations are possible in the Gallup area, with 1-8″ of snow possible in the San Juan Mountains. 1-3″ of snow will also be possible across the rest of the northern and western mountains. Some spotty rain showers may make it as far east as the Rio Grande Valley by early Saturday morning, but most of the precipitation will begin to fall apart by this time.
Scattered rain and mountain snow showers will redevelop Saturday afternoon in northern New Mexico, but accumulations will be light. The big stories will be the wind and cooler temperatures Saturday. Highs will be over 20° cooler on Saturday across much of the state, with westerly winds gusting from 30 to 70 mph. A high fire danger will also return as a result of the wind and dry weather. Winds will finally begin to relax Saturday night, but widespread freezing temperatures are likely by Sunday morning.
Breezy to windy weather will return to eastern New Mexico Sunday afternoon, but temperatures will begin a warming trend. Some breezes will stick around into Monday as we start to see rain and snow chances return with another storm system moving into the state. The best chances for widespread rain and higher elevation snow will be on Tuesday. However, temperatures will get cold enough that parts of eastern and northern eastern New Mexico could see some accumulating snowfall. Isolated rain and snow showers may stick around parts of the state on Wednesday, but drier air will begin returning along with warmer weather.
Much more spring-like weather will return again late next week.
