NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A dusty and gusty cool front has made its way through parts of The Land of Enchantment this morning, but conditions are still relatively mild to start in The Rio Grande Valley to the south, while northern-mountain communities are starting off calm with very chilly air with clear skies everywhere. Temperatures are widely ranging from the 20s to the low 70s across New Mexico, at-or-slightly below normal for some northern areas, while the remainder of the region is still experiencing above-normal temperatures. Winds have gusted between 40 mph to nearly 60 mph at The Sunport very early this morning, but winds are slowly letting up as the weak front is moving to the southwest.
It’s courtesy of a high pressure system to the west that has partially brought down the stronger upper-level northeasterly winds to the surface, but as the system moves west, calmer conditions with clear skies and dry air will allow for temperatures to rise to near-record to record territory today, despite the slightly lower temperatures from The Metro to the south, while areas in The Northeast Highlands will be noticeably cooler, but still very mild.
With the high pressure still to the west of The Four Corners trapping still just a little bit of moisture in the higher elevations, a few showers with rumbles of thunder are still possible from The Western Mountains to The Sangre de Cristo Mountains, but the sinking, stable air mass will still generally lead to very sunny skies, seasonably very warm air, and dry conditions elsewhere. Near-record to record afternoon temperatures are still likely for some areas, as from the morning school commute on into the afternoon, temperatures will eventually reach into the high 60s, 70s, 80s, and low 90s.
Very clear skies with relatively chilly mornings and very warm afternoons will continue all the way through Balloon Fiesta Weekend with only a couple of very weak cold fronts kicking up winds a little bit from time to time, but rain will be hard to come by all of the way through next week.
