A storm system scraping New Mexico Saturday will bring a windy first day of Balloon Fiesta. Winds die down Sunday with cooler temperatures.
Winds are picking up Friday across New Mexico as a storm system approaches the state. Southwest winds have been gusting over 30 mph at times, especially in northwest New Mexico. This has brought warm weather across New Mexico again today. A few showers have popped up in western and northwestern New Mexico today too. Some of these showers and storms will stick around far north and northwest New Mexico, along with southwest Colorado, overnight into Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, the winds will only get stronger Saturday. Breezy southerly winds may even stick around to start the day Saturday, which could impact the first Mass Ascension of this year’s Balloon Fiesta. Southerly winds could get as high as 10 mph with gusts up to 15 mph in the morning. By the afternoon, winds could gust over 40 mph, especially in western, central, and northern new Mexico. This could again impact event events at Fiesta. Isolated showers are likely in northern New Mexico and int the northern mountains, along with southern Colorado again. A Pacific cold front will sweep across the state, bringing slightly cooler high temperatures this weekend.
Much lighter winds return by Sunday morning, bringing a picture-perfect set up for Day 2 of Balloon Fiesta with a light northeasterly drainage wind. A box effect may even set up Sunday morning! Winds will be lighter in the afternoon and evening too.
Another box effect is likely Monday morning. A backdoor cold front will start moving into New Mexico from the northeast, bringing rain chances back to northern and eastern parts of the state. Rain chances increase across most of New Mexico Tuesday and Wednesday as the cold front moves across the state, again bringing cooler temperatures. Mornings still look quiet though for Mass Ascension.
