Temperatures start another warming trend Wednesday across New Mexico. Near-record heat continues through the first weekend of Balloon Fiesta.
High temperatures are as much as 20° warmer in parts of northeastern New Mexico Wednesday afternoon, after a cold front left that part of the state the coolest yesterday. Southerly winds are also breezy in the eastern half of the state, but these winds will die down overnight. A few clouds and a couple spotty showers have tried to develop in western New Mexico, but they are not sticking around for long. Quiet weather will continue overnight, with seasonably cool temperatures.
An even warmer day is on the way Thursday, with record and near-record high temperatures across the state. A weak backdoor front will move in late Thursday night into Friday morning, leaving temperatures a couple degrees cooler. Warmer weather returns again through this weekend, with record and near-record high temperatures both Saturday and Sunday.
Luckily for the first weekend of Balloon Fiesta, the weather will remain warm, relatively calm, and dry. The mornings will only be in the mid and upper 50s with light winds. Sunday afternoon, the winds might get a little breezy as a backdoor cold front moves through, but should die down for the evening events at Balloon Fiesta Park.
Temperatures will be a few degrees cooler next week, but still as much as 10° warmer than normal for this time of year. Winds also look to remain light each morning through the first half of the week for Fiesta. A few spotty chances for rain will return to the Four Corners starting Wednesday.
