Rain and snow moves through New Mexico Saturday. Warmer and drier weather returns Sunday.
High winds Friday afternoon are again bringing in dust storm conditions across southern New Mexico, with wind gusts up to 55 mph. Meanwhile, rain and snow has been moving into west-central, northwest, and northern New Mexico this afternoon. That’s where temperatures are much cooler today, sitting in the 30s in Gallup, while southeast New Mexico is up into the 80s.
The winds will settle down tonight, but rain and snow will continue to move into the state from the west. A strong cold front will also be moving in from the northeast, bringing in a gusty east canyon wind into the Albuquerque Metro tonight. It will die down Saturday morning though. More rain and snow will be moving across New Mexico by Saturday morning. This storm will bring a good chance for rain to western, central, and northern New Mexico through Saturday, including a good chance for rain in the Albuquerque Metro Saturday. The rain will mix with snow in elevations down to 6,500′ as temperatures will be much colder Saturday as well. Any kind of travel impacts should be limited to areas above 7,000′.
Drier weather will return to all of New Mexico by Sunday morning, but it will be a cold start to the day! A Freeze Watch is in effect for the Albuquerque Metro Sunday morning where low temperatures will get down to around freezing. More seasonable weather moves in by the afternoon though with highs back to around average and sunny and calm conditions.
Warm temperatures will stick around every day next week with dry conditions in the western half of the state. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will work its way into eastern New Mexico Tuesday, bringing daily, isolated thunderstorm chances through the end of next week.