Thursday: Isolated storms with wildfire risk

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00][laughter] >> Well, what we're going to find in our skies today is some blue skies and some sunshine.

[00:00:05]>> And that's what we're seeing right now in Wolf Creek Ski Resort. So, looking at some snowfall still sticking around in the higher elevations around Wolf Creek, especially by the summit. 44° so, above freezing and across the rest of New Mexico, we just have some showers are starting to develop right now along the along the Sacramento Mountains down south and we do have some showers over towards towards Texas and along Texas and New Mexico state line for this afternoon.

[00:00:32]So, throughout this afternoon, we are looking at the potential to see some ice and showers and thunderstorms starting to develop across eastern New Mexico as we have some higher dew points at least to get us enough showers and thunderstorms to form, but I do think we'll still be on the drier side. So, some of this might not result in a lot of precipitation or rainfall making to the ground. So, dry storms are part of the forecast for today at least in eastern New Mexico before drying out through this overnight hours. Storm Prediction Center does have part of eastern New Mexico into that darker green color or a marginal risk to see some stronger storms develop potentially this afternoon. If you do see any of those stronger storms develop, some strong wind gusts will be that primary concern throughout the afternoon and early evening hours. Aside from that, windy conditions off towards Santa Rosa, Las Vegas and what was in Raton a little bit throughout the the early afternoon hours. 17 mph, 29 in Las Vegas and 17 in Deming.

[00:01:27]Our temperatures are warming up quite nicely into the 70s, 80s and 90s already in a Deming in southwest New Mexico. So, we'll have some hot weather sticking around for today in southern New Mexico and across the east that's going to contribute to a fire threat for this afternoon as we have some rear and near record high temperatures in a few locations around eastern New Mexico. The 90s, 100° forecasted for Carlsbad, 88 to 89° in Albuquerque with some dry relative humidity again at the ground.

[00:01:54]That will not only contribute to that fire risk, but also potential for some dry storms in eastern New Mexico. 25 to 45 mph wind gusts are possible for today.

[00:02:03]And that's going to create that elevated fire risk across eastern and southern New Mexico. And with that, we all have from the National Weather Service until 8:00 this evening some fire or red flag warnings from the National Weather Service in southern New Mexico for those fires that could easily start and spread. However, though, across the 7-day forecast in Durango, temperatures will range from the 70s and 80s, 60s with a cool down coming next week on Monday and Tuesday. So, again, a lot of us are going to see this hot weather stick around before we see another frontal boundary come into play early next week dropping our temperatures from the 80s to the low 70s in Farmington by next week. For this afternoon, though, breezy conditions are forecasted for parts of southern and even eastern New Mexico that will contribute to the elevated fire risk across the state. And we'll also will see some chance for some showers and thunderstorms off towards eastern New Mexico for this afternoon.

[00:02:57]As we do have that marginal risk from the Storm Prediction Center, again, some of these could result in some dry thunderstorms cuz we're going to be drier at the ground and we do have some high temperatures that'll be near-record warmth potentially in parts of the state. 97 in Tucumcari, Conchas at 95, and also 91 in Santa Rosa. So, again, that hot weather is going to continue at least for many of us across New Mexico through at least tomorrow and before we get a cool cooler weather ahead for the weekend. So, breezier conditions still around today in Angel Fire and it looks like Santa Fe later on for Sunday and Monday next week. East Mountains, blue skies and maybe a few clouds out in Mountainair for this afternoon. 84 in Taos and Mountainair. Again, when we get our jet stream coming through for early next week, we'll see breezier conditions pick up on Sunday and Monday likely across the state including in the metro area at Rio Rancho.

[00:03:49]Uh where to temperatures will start to tumble back into the low 80s on Monday and Tuesday. Same thing in Albuquerque anticipating some cooler temperatures and some breezier winds though, but dry so far on the 7-day forecast. I guess some people are going to enjoy the the nice cool downs in the evenings.

[00:04:05]>> I think that's going to be a little bit on the nicer side. Definitely.

[00:04:07][laughter] Thanks so much, David.