textproduct: Albuquerque

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 1129 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

- A winter storm will continue to produce widespread travel impacts along and east of the continental divide, and especially over the mountains and southeast plains, today into Sunday.

- Subfreezing temperatures are forecast to continue across the northeast plains until Monday afternoon, and across the southeast plains until Tuesday afternoon.

- Dry weather returns early next week as temperatures struggle to climb back to seasonal averages.

SHORT TERM

(This evening through Sunday) Issued at 1129 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

The main changes to the forecast for the ongoing winter precip event were to decrease snow amounts along and north of I-40, and to increase snow amounts in some locations south of I-40; most notably Socorro County, where 1-2 inches is now expected tonight into Sunday morning. We also increased the coverage and amount of freezing rain along the east slopes of the Manzano Mountains and especially the Sacramento Mountains eastward in accordance with high resolution model trends.

The first upper level trough in a series of two will finish passing eastward over northern Mexico today, then exit eastward over TX tonight. Isentropic lift over an Arctic airmass is forecast to continue producing accumulating winter precipitation along and east of the central mountain chain, and especially east of the central and south central mountains, for the rest of today and into this evening. The depth of the supercooled droplet layer over south central and southeast parts of the forecast area was deeper than models forecast overnight into this morning, and there was less seeding from higher level frozen precip, resulting in significantly more ice accumulation from Ruidoso and (probably) Dunken eastward to Roswell than expected. The model that seemed to handle the location of freezing rain accumulation the best this morning was the HREF. This forecast package followed the HREF's lead in drawing additional ice accumulation from the east slopes of the Manzano Mountains southeastward along the east slopes of the Sacramento Mountains, and eastward across Chaves County. The most significant additional ice accumulation should be from Ruidoso to Dunken, where we have low to moderate confidence of another 0.05" or so of additional ice accumulation this afternoon until 9 PM this evening. Lighter amounts are forecast around Mountainair and Roswell. West of the central mountain chain today a mix of rain and snow will continue at times, but any snow accumulation will favor locations about 7000 feet; and especially the Santa Fe area where a frigid southeast wind will keep temperatures near and below freezing this this afternoon allowing an inch or so of snow accumulation.

When the first upper level trough shifts eastward into TX this evening, temperatures will fall and precipitation will gradually change over to all snow as the second upper level trough moves in from the northwest. Additional snow amounts this afternoon and tonight of up to 3 inches are forecast at lower elevations west of the central mountain chain, and an inch or two across the northeast highlands and northeast plains. Higher amounts of 4 to 8 inches are forecast in the mountains, over the east central highlands, and at lower elevations south of I-40 over southeast and east central parts of the forecast area. The northwest mountains will generally accumulate lower amounts of 1-3 inches, while the highest peaks along the central mountain chain approach 10 inches; except for up to 20 additional inches on Sierra Blanca Peak. The snow on top of the ice will make for hazardous travel conditions for days to come east of the Sacramento Mountains. The second upper level trough will exit southeastward over TX during the morning Sunday enabling precip to taper off from northwest to southeast, and the sun to come out by afternoon.

With this forecast package we are delaying the start of the Winter Weather Advisory in Albuquerque and Socorro until 6 pm this evening, when temperatures will be cold enough for snow.

LONG TERM

(Sunday night through Friday) Issued at 1129 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

In the wake of the exiting one-two punch very cold temperatures will linger. Temperatures will remain below freezing over eastern areas while warming some on Sunday. On Monday, downslope flow should enable temperatures to rise above freezing over eastern areas along and north of I-40, but south of I-40 the plains should remain below freezing while the air is cooled by several inches of snow on the ground. Wind chill readings mostly in the single digits and as much as 15 degrees below zero over eastern areas may warrant some Cold Weather Advisories Sunday night into Monday morning. Additional light snow is forecast along and east of the northern mountains on Sunday night as another disturbance clips northeast NM in northwest flow aloft.

Temperatures will trend warmer in dry northwest flow aloft Monday through the middle of next week. Then, there may be a few degrees of cooling behind a backdoor front over northeast and east central areas on Thursday.

AVIATION

(18Z TAFS) Issued at 1055 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

Wintry weather has a widespread grip over the eastern half of New Mexico with prevalent IFR to LIFR conditions (ceilings commonly down to 400-800 ft and visibility down to 1/2 mile). These conditions will continue with some breaks in snowfall through the afternoon allowing visibility to temporarily rise at times. However, a more significant period of steady snow will develop over much of east central New Mexico tonight with more persistent LIFR and localized VLIFR conditions that will be below several airports' minimum operating thresholds. In the western half of the state areas of rain and higher elevation (6,500 to 7,500 ft) snow showers will periodically redevelop through the afternoon before another disturbance aloft arrives. This next disturbance will spread more snow into western areas overnight, especially after 0500UTC (10 PM MST) with IFR conditions becoming scattered to widespread. Through the mid to late morning Sunday, a clearing trend will occur from northwest to southeast. Most airports improve to VFR status by late morning to the mid afternoon. Lots of mountain peak obscurations will prevail until this time.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 1129 AM MST Sat Jan 24 2026

After widespread poor ventilation this afternoon, gusty northwest winds will allow vent rates to improve over western and north central areas on Sunday. Widespread poor ventilation is then forecast during the work week. Southwest winds may become gusty east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on Monday as a strong high pressure system settles over the Lubbock area, and a surface trough develops in the lee of the CO Rockies. This could enable a brief window of ventilation improvement there Monday afternoon.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Farmington...................... 20 39 14 38 / 10 0 0 0 Dulce........................... 8 37 -2 38 / 30 20 0 0 Cuba............................ 11 33 5 34 / 40 10 0 0 Gallup.......................... 11 38 4 41 / 50 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 13 34 9 39 / 60 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 12 39 7 42 / 60 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 13 31 9 38 / 90 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 20 36 17 37 / 90 30 0 0 Datil........................... 18 32 13 37 / 90 20 0 0 Reserve......................... 17 44 11 49 / 90 20 0 0 Glenwood........................ 22 51 15 53 / 90 20 0 0 Chama........................... 8 29 -2 32 / 40 20 5 0 Los Alamos...................... 17 30 11 32 / 60 20 5 0 Pecos........................... 9 29 6 35 / 70 30 10 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 12 29 4 32 / 50 20 20 0 Red River....................... 5 21 0 26 / 60 30 30 0 Angel Fire...................... 1 24 -6 32 / 70 30 30 0 Taos............................ 9 31 -2 34 / 50 20 20 0 Mora............................ 8 30 6 42 / 70 20 20 0 Espanola........................ 15 37 6 38 / 60 20 5 0 Santa Fe........................ 14 29 10 31 / 70 30 5 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 12 31 7 31 / 70 20 5 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 21 37 19 38 / 80 30 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 20 39 19 40 / 70 30 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 20 42 17 43 / 70 30 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 21 41 19 40 / 60 20 0 0 Belen........................... 19 40 11 40 / 90 30 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 20 39 15 39 / 70 20 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 17 41 14 41 / 80 30 0 0 Corrales........................ 20 41 16 41 / 60 20 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 19 41 14 41 / 80 30 0 0 Placitas........................ 20 34 16 35 / 80 30 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 21 40 17 40 / 60 20 0 0 Socorro......................... 22 42 16 42 / 90 30 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 13 30 12 32 / 80 30 0 0 Tijeras......................... 15 31 14 33 / 80 30 0 0 Edgewood........................ 12 31 8 34 / 80 30 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 8 32 1 35 / 80 30 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 6 26 4 30 / 80 40 5 0 Mountainair..................... 9 31 9 34 / 90 40 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 7 30 6 33 / 90 40 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 13 32 10 34 / 100 70 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 8 28 11 35 / 100 80 0 0 Capulin......................... 3 26 -2 38 / 50 5 40 0 Raton........................... 4 28 -2 40 / 50 10 40 0 Springer........................ 6 29 -2 43 / 40 5 20 0 Las Vegas....................... 7 29 2 40 / 60 10 10 0 Clayton......................... 6 26 3 39 / 60 0 50 0 Roy............................. 6 26 -1 35 / 70 5 30 0 Conchas......................... 7 30 3 38 / 80 20 20 0 Santa Rosa...................... 6 26 1 34 / 90 30 10 0 Tucumcari....................... 5 29 1 35 / 90 20 20 0 Clovis.......................... 6 24 0 29 / 90 40 10 0 Portales........................ 6 25 -3 29 / 100 40 5 0 Fort Sumner..................... 7 26 -2 29 / 90 40 10 0 Roswell......................... 12 24 1 27 / 100 50 0 0 Picacho......................... 9 28 5 37 / 100 60 0 0 Elk............................. 4 32 6 42 / 100 70 0 0

ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Winter Weather Advisory until 5 AM MST Sunday for NMZ202>204-206- 208-227-228-230-231.

Winter Storm Warning until 8 AM MST Sunday for NMZ210>218- 221>224-229-232>234-237.

Winter Weather Advisory until 8 AM MST Sunday for NMZ207-219-225- 241.

Winter Storm Warning until 11 AM MST Sunday for NMZ226-235-236- 238>240.

Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 8 AM MST Sunday for NMZ220.