Our stretch of spring-like and record breaking warm weather will continue into the weekend. Cooler air will start moving in Sunday with chances for rain and snow returning next week.
Record high temperatures are once again being broken Wednesday afternoon across parts of New Mexico, including Roswell where highs have climbed into the mid-80s! Winds have been very gusty today across eastern New Mexico as well, with some wind gusts over 35 mph in the northeastern part of the state. Clayton has even measured a wind gust over 50 mph. The combination of the wind, warm weather, and low humidity has brought a high fire danger across eastern New Mexico. The winds will die down quickly this evening though and so will the fire threat.
Temperatures will be a few degrees cooler Thursday afternoon, but again still well-above average for February. Winds will be breezy again, bringing an elevated fire danger across central and western New Mexico. High temperatures will climb higher again on Friday, with more record and near-record high temperatures. Winds will also pick back up again statewide Friday and will stick around through Saturday. More record and near-record high temperatures are likely Saturday afternoon.
A cold front will begin moving into northeast New Mexico Saturday night and will move across the state through Sunday morning. This will bring a cool down statewide Sunday. A wetter and cooler pattern is shaping up next week. We will likely see snow return to the northern mountains by early next week, with light snow chances in northeast New Mexico. There is some uncertainty beyond that, but temperatures will be back to around average again by the middle of next week.