textproduct: Albuquerque

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 542 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

- Critical fire weather conditions will produce a risk of rapid fire spread locally over northeast and east central areas today, then over more of eastern New Mexico Saturday through Tuesday.

- Strong southwest and west winds will produce difficult crosswinds for high profile vehicles on north-south roads Saturday through Tuesday. The strongest will probably reach around 60 mph on Sunday and Sunday night over the south central mountains and parts of the eastern plains.

- Saturday night and Sunday, showers and thunderstorms from the northern mountains westward, and over west central areas, will be capable of producing erratic wind gusts with hazardous crosswinds and blowing dust, as well as cloud-to-ground lightning.

SHORT TERM

(Today through Saturday) Issued at 119 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

In between weather systems, winds won't be quite as strong today. Under zonal flow aloft, and with ample atmospheric mixing in high temperatures near to around 7 degrees above 30-year averages, it will still be seasonably gusty. The strongest gusts may reach up to 40 mph over mountain peaks, and at lower elevations around Gallup, from Las Vegas to Roy, and from Ruidoso to Dunken.

The longwave trough over the western US will deepen on Saturday, which will begin to strengthen the flow aloft over NM as temperatures climb a few degrees from today's readings central and east. This should enable an uptick in wind speeds Saturday. Fire weather concerns will probably also become more widespread again east of the central mountain chain on Saturday afternoon, where humidities will plummet near 10 percent.

LONG TERM

(Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 119 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

Winds will continue to strengthen Saturday night, then become strong Sunday into Sunday night, as an upper level trough crossing the central Rockies steers the jetstream over NM. Southwest wind gusts Sunday and Sunday night should commonly reach 45 to 55 mph; except around 60 mph in the south central mountains and across east central areas, where the strongest flow aloft will cross (and a stout lee-side surface trough will exist). Humidities will also plummet near and below 15 percent along and east of I-25, where critical fire weather conditions are likely from midday Sunday until the middle of Sunday evening. West of I-25, and especially near the CO border, the storm system will steer moisture and precip into the forecast area in the form of showers, thunderstorms, and very high terrain snow showers. One of the main forecast challenges the next few days will be determining where the precip will become less significant enabling critical fire weather conditions to become more significant. It's possible that northern parts of the Middle Rio Grande Valley and the Sandia/Manzano Mountains will experience spotty wetting rainfall, while southern parts of the Middle Rio Grande Valley and locations east of the central mountains experience critical fire weather conditions. With this forecast package we converted NBM's rain showers to sprinkles in most places along and east of I-25 in an attempt to begin deconflicting the fire weather message from the NBM's broad brush accumulating precip forecast.

With the precip moving into central and western areas on Sunday, and a Pacific cold front that reaches western areas late in the day, Sunday's high temperatures along and west of I-25 will fall a few to 10 degrees below Saturday's readings. Meanwhile, locations farther east will experience high temperatures as much as 10 degrees above 1991-2020 averages on Sunday.

The storm track over the western US will remain active during the first half of the coming work week with daily rounds of breezy to windy conditions over the forecast area. Humidities will be low enough for fire weather concerns Monday and Tuesday, especially along and east of the central mountain chain where winds will gust up to 45 or 50 mph. Models disagree on track, depth, and timing, but the longwave trough is forecast to sweep across the southern Rockies Wednesday and Thursday with widespread showers, thunderstorms, and very high terrain snow showers in NM. Some models are significantly slower in moving the system than others, so there is a small risk of more fire weather concerns across the east on Wednesday. After high temperatures up to 10 degrees above 30-year averages on Tuesday, readings may fall below average over western parts of the forecasts area with the increasing precip coverage Wednesday, then over more of the forecast area on Thursday.

AVIATION

(12Z TAFS) Issued at 542 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

VFR conditions are forecast for the next 24 hours. West and southwest winds will become gusty this afternoon until sunset. The strongest gusts will probably reach around 35 KT over mountain peaks and at lower elevations around Gallup, from Ruidoso to Dunken, and from Las Vegas to Roy. Winds will weaken after sunset.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 119 AM MDT Fri Apr 24 2026

Locally critical fire weather conditions will favor the Central Highlands and northeast this afternoon as wind speeds weaken from Thursday's readings. Poor humidity recovery is then forecast along and east of I-25 tonight. An active storm track over the western US will increase the coverage of breezy to windy conditions Saturday through Tuesday with critical fire weather conditions mainly over eastern areas each day. Critical fire weather conditions may extend as far west as the Middle Rio Grande Valley on Sunday, when wind speeds are forecast to peak around 60 mph east of the Sandia and Manzano Mountains and up to 55 mph further north and west. Also on Sunday, there is a 10-30 percent chance for gusty virga showers and dry thunderstorms from Grants to Albuquerque, Albuquerque to Moriarty, Moriarty to Las Vegas, and from Las Vegas to Raton, creating a hazardous mix of strong wind, very low humidity, dry lightning, and very dry fuels with ERCs around the 80th percentile. There is also a moderately high chance that wind gusts around 60 mph will persist through Sunday night east of the central mountain chain.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Farmington...................... 71 41 71 45 / 0 0 0 50 Dulce........................... 66 31 67 36 / 0 5 5 60 Cuba............................ 67 37 66 39 / 0 0 5 30 Gallup.......................... 68 33 66 37 / 0 0 0 20 El Morro........................ 65 36 63 37 / 0 0 5 10 Grants.......................... 70 35 68 37 / 0 0 0 10 Quemado......................... 69 38 67 40 / 0 0 0 5 Magdalena....................... 72 44 71 44 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 69 39 67 40 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 73 36 72 38 / 0 0 0 5 Glenwood........................ 77 40 76 40 / 0 0 0 5 Chama........................... 60 30 60 34 / 0 5 5 50 Los Alamos...................... 67 44 67 44 / 0 0 0 30 Pecos........................... 66 39 68 40 / 0 0 0 20 Cerro/Questa.................... 63 35 64 39 / 0 5 0 30 Red River....................... 56 30 57 34 / 0 0 0 30 Angel Fire...................... 60 26 61 33 / 0 0 0 30 Taos............................ 67 32 68 36 / 0 5 0 30 Mora............................ 66 37 68 39 / 0 0 0 20 Espanola........................ 73 39 74 42 / 0 0 0 30 Santa Fe........................ 68 42 69 43 / 0 0 0 30 Santa Fe Airport................ 72 40 73 42 / 0 0 0 20 Albuquerque Foothills........... 73 49 74 49 / 0 0 0 10 Albuquerque Heights............. 75 48 76 48 / 0 0 0 10 Albuquerque Valley.............. 78 42 78 43 / 0 0 0 5 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 76 48 76 48 / 0 0 0 10 Belen........................... 79 45 80 44 / 0 0 0 5 Bernalillo...................... 76 47 76 46 / 0 0 0 20 Bosque Farms.................... 78 43 78 42 / 0 0 0 5 Corrales........................ 76 47 77 47 / 0 0 0 10 Los Lunas....................... 78 44 78 43 / 0 0 0 5 Placitas........................ 73 48 73 47 / 0 0 0 20 Rio Rancho...................... 76 48 75 48 / 0 0 0 10 Socorro......................... 82 48 82 48 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 69 44 69 46 / 0 0 0 20 Tijeras......................... 70 45 71 46 / 0 0 0 20 Edgewood........................ 70 41 71 43 / 0 0 0 10 Moriarty/Estancia............... 72 37 73 36 / 0 0 0 10 Clines Corners.................. 68 41 69 41 / 0 0 0 5 Mountainair..................... 71 43 72 43 / 0 0 0 5 Gran Quivira.................... 71 44 72 44 / 0 0 0 5 Carrizozo....................... 75 51 75 51 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 68 48 69 47 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 68 35 69 37 / 0 0 0 10 Raton........................... 71 34 73 37 / 0 0 0 10 Springer........................ 74 36 75 39 / 0 0 0 5 Las Vegas....................... 68 40 70 41 / 0 0 0 10 Clayton......................... 74 45 77 43 / 0 0 0 10 Roy............................. 73 42 76 43 / 0 0 0 5 Conchas......................... 81 44 83 48 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 77 45 79 45 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 82 47 85 49 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 81 49 84 51 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 83 49 86 50 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 82 48 85 48 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 87 51 89 54 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 79 49 81 52 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 76 48 77 50 / 0 0 0 0

ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Fire Weather Watch from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening for NMZ104-123-125-126.