Strong winds develop Saturday afternoon
Windier, dry and warm weather will continue into the Memorial Day weekend. This will bring a very high fire danger, especially on Saturday.
Windier weather returned to New Mexico Thursday afternoon. West, southwest winds were gusting anywhere from 25 to 45+ mph. This brought some extremely dry air into the state and warmer temperatures. This wind is dying down tonight for most overnight, but a few breezy spots will remain. Winds are expected to be breezy and locally windy again Friday afternoon. The fire danger will be lower on Friday, even with warmer temperatures and very dry air, but it will still be elevated across nearly the entire state.
The strongest winds will develop Saturday afternoon. That is when west, southwesterly winds will gust anywhere from 35 to 50 mph, with locally windier weather. This will again combine with extremely dry air and warm temperatures to bring a very high fire danger across most of New Mexico. Many of you may have plans to head into the forests and the mountains, but it is extremely important to do your part to prevent wildfires, especially on Saturday. Any wildfire that may develop, will spread rapidly with the high winds and dry conditions.
We start to see an improvement with the winds on Sunday, as winds may only gust to around 35 mph Sunday afternoon. There will still be an elevated fire danger though in the state. Winds continue to lighten up heading into Memorial Day, with gusts up to only 25 to 30 mph. High pressure moves over New Mexico on Memorial Day as well, kickstarting another warming trend that will last into the middle of next week. That’s when Albuquerque could see its first 90° day of the year. A couple isolated thunderstorms may also be possible in the afternoons around the middle of next week as well in eastern New Mexico.
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