Winds pick up heading into the weekend

Winds will be picking up each day through Saturday. A high fire danger returns to New Mexico through the weekend as well.

Winds are lighter Wednesday afternoon across much of New Mexico. They are still breezy at times, but overall lighter than what we’ve been used to recently. Temperatures are a few degrees warmer in the western half of the state, while a few degrees cooler in eastern New Mexico thanks to a backdoor cold front that moved in overnight. Overnight, winds may pick up a little bit in eastern New Mexico as moisture from the Gulf of Mexico tries to stream into this part of the state. That could result in some low clouds to start Thursday morning.

A period of windier weather starts again Thursday afternoon. West, southwesterly winds will gust to as high as 40 mph across parts of New Mexico, bringing a high fire danger to southern and eastern parts of the state. Temperatures will be warmer statewide Thursday afternoon as well. Breezy to locally windy conditions will continue Friday afternoon, with humidity dropping to as low as 2% at times. This will again bring a high fire danger across parts of New Mexico.

The strongest winds will develop Saturday afternoon, when west, southwesterly winds could gust as high as 50 mph. This will again combine with even warmer temperatures and humidity in the single-digits, to bring a very high fire danger across most of the state. Winds will start trending downward though on Sunday, when they may only gust to as high as 35 mph and calmer conditions return by Memorial Day.

Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will make its way back up into eastern New Mexico next Tuesday, which will bring in a chance for afternoon thunderstorms to this part of the state. A couple isolated storms may be possible in eastern New Mexico next Wednesday as well. Meanwhile, temperatures all across New Mexico will be even warmer next week.

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