textproduct: Albuquerque

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 504 AM MDT Fri Apr 17 2026

- Hazardous crosswinds will create difficult travel for large and high-profile vehicles today and tonight mainly across eastern NM.

- Critical fire weather conditions return today to the southeastern half of NM, increasing the threat of rapid fire spread from any new spark.

- A hard freeze is forecast tonight into Saturday morning across portions of central, western, and northern NM. Take precautions to protect early blooming plants.

SHORT TERM

(Today through Saturday) Issued at 102 AM MDT Fri Apr 17 2026

An all too familiar dry Spring windy day with fire weather is on tap for the Land of Enchantment today. Widespread minor to locally moderate impacts from strong southwesterly to westerly wind gusts of 45 to 55 mph will be felt alongside localized patchy blowing dust capable of lower visibility to 1 to 3 miles in dust prone areas. Southwesterly winds aloft are already increasing over the state tonight ahead of an approaching upper level trough that has peeled southward off its parent 531dm H5 low now over southern Saskatchewan. These winds will quickly become more westerly this morning with gusty winds first over ridgetops before spreading to lower elevations of NM by mid-to-late morning. Unfortunately, any precipitation associated with this system will stick north of the state line over the CO Rockies. The Pacific portion a cold front will first enter the Four Corners region near Farmington this morning bringing a sharp northwesterly wind shift and much drier and colder air behind it. This front advances southeastward to Albuquerque and the Rio Grande Valley by the late afternoon. Thereafter, it pushes out over the highlands of central NM meeting up with it's backdoor counterpart moving southward from CO Friday evening. Winds turn northerly areawide this evening, tapering off over central and western NM first, staying strong close to the TX line where gusts of 35 to 50+ mph is forecast. Wind Advisories this morning along the Sangre de Cristo's and southwest Chaves County, and those along the northeast and central highlands including Harding and eastern San Miguel Counties were left in tact. A subsequent set of Wind Advisories will be hoisted for Union, Quay, and Curry Counties with Harding County joining them for Friday evening and night for the strong northerly winds behind the backdoor cold front. MOS guidance suggests there is some potential for high wind criteria being reached at Tucumcari, but this seems like a low probability given the more protected location at Tucumcari within the Canadian River Valley.

Winds do subside over central and western NM first behind the Pacific cold front where very dry air highlighted by dewpoints falling to near or below 0F. This will allow low temperatures to plummet into the 10s and 20s over the western and northern thirds of the state. The Freeze Watch has been upgraded to a Freeze Warning and expanded to Quay County where the record March heat wave allowed vegetation to get an early start on the growing season. The Upper Rio Grande Valley (Taos) was left out as observations there have shown freezes have remained a regular occurrence through March and April, thus not allowing the growing season to have started there yet. The Middle Rio Grande Valley (Albuquerque) and San Francisco River Valley (Luna to Glenwood) remain on the marginal end of freezing temperatures and will let subsequent shifts take another look as any forecast freezing temperatures would be isolated to along the rivers. Locations further south and east including Socorro and Roswell are forecast to remain above freezing.

Conditions calm thru Saturday morning as temperatures warm back up, with high temperatures staying 5F to 15F below normal in the 50s and 60s.

LONG TERM

(Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 102 AM MDT Fri Apr 17 2026

Sunday through Tuesday begins a warming trend as a ridge of high pressure builds over the state and region. Light to modest southerly winds continue to be advertised to bring up increased moisture and humidity into the state from up the Rio Grande Valley along the TX/Mexico border into NM. This will yield isolated virga showers that will produce little to no rainfall each afternoon. There are low probabilities for any one location of receiving erratic gusty afternoon winds from these showers, with overall pleasant weather conditions favored each day as highs climb into the 70s and 80s by Tuesday.

Wednesday and beyond continues to see a significant drop in forecast confidence with a large and very dynamic upper low moving ashore the western CONUS. Numerical model guidance continues to showcase a system with multiple vorticity maxes rotating around the circulation structure. Consistency continues to lack with how this system interacts with an amplified polar jet stretching from the PacNW upwards to the Gulf of Alaska and along the coastline of British Columbia. All that said, there is moderate confidence for increased windy conditions by Wednesday with lowering confidence on whether or not precipitation reaches NM Thursday into the weekend. This will entirely depend on the evolution and track of the aforementioned upper low moving ashore the western CONUS. Stay tuned!

AVIATION

(12Z TAFS) Issued at 504 AM MDT Fri Apr 17 2026

Southwesterly to westerly winds will pickup quickly this morning, turning northwesterly thru the day as a cold front advances west to east across the state. Widespread gusts of 25 to 30kts can be expected with peak gusts of 30 to 40kts focused in areas along and east of the central mountain chain. Localized blowing dust resulting in lower visibility is also possible this afternoon and will favor the cold frontal passage. An Airport Weather Warning for wind gusts of 35kts or stronger may become necessary at KABQ, which would also favor the frontal passage this afternoon. Winds turn northerly tonight, staying strongest the longest along the TX state line in far eastern NM while tapering off over central and western NM.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 102 AM MDT Fri Apr 17 2026

...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER RETURNS TO A MAJORITY OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN NM TODAY...

Today sees widespread critical fire weather conditions through the southeastern half of NM, including the central and eastern portions of this fire weather forecast area. Nearly all areas will see minimum humidity fall to 10 to 15 percent with sustained winds of 25-35 mph favoring areas along and east of the central mountain chain this afternoon, where peak gusts are forecast to reach 35 to 50+ mph. The Red Flag Warning for these areas remains on track, whereas there will be shorter duration and more localized critical fire weather conditions elsewhere in the Upper and Middle Rio Grande Valleys from Taos to Albuquerque and Northwest Plateau near Farmington. Westerly winds veering northwesterly behind a cold front thru western and central NM will turn northerly this evening and tonight, staying strongest thru far eastern NM where gusts to 45 to 50 mph will remain on tap through the midnight hour. Thereafter, winds calm and very cold temperatures settle in with a widespread freeze forecast across the northwestern half of NM Saturday morning.

Critical fire weather concerns subside Saturday as winds taper off. Temperatures trend warmer Sunday through Tuesday as light to moderate southerly winds bring in increased humidity allowing for improved overnight recoveries, at least through Monday morning. Conditions thereafter look to dry out alongside increased winds Tuesday and Wednesday before another round of unsettled weather is favored for the latter half of next week.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Farmington...................... 54 20 61 31 / 0 0 0 0 Dulce........................... 56 11 61 18 / 5 0 0 0 Cuba............................ 56 20 59 28 / 0 0 0 0 Gallup.......................... 58 16 61 23 / 0 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 59 24 62 33 / 0 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 64 19 63 27 / 0 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 63 26 66 34 / 0 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 69 33 63 37 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 64 29 63 34 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 72 27 73 31 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 75 32 79 36 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 50 13 55 22 / 5 0 0 0 Los Alamos...................... 60 29 58 34 / 0 0 0 0 Pecos........................... 62 23 60 28 / 0 0 0 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 57 21 55 28 / 0 5 5 0 Red River....................... 48 15 46 22 / 5 10 5 0 Angel Fire...................... 54 11 52 15 / 0 5 5 0 Taos............................ 61 16 59 21 / 0 0 5 0 Mora............................ 62 20 58 25 / 0 0 0 0 Espanola........................ 69 24 65 29 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 62 28 59 34 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 65 26 62 32 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 70 36 66 40 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 72 34 67 38 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 75 34 70 36 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 72 35 67 39 / 0 0 0 0 Belen........................... 76 32 70 33 / 0 0 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 72 32 67 37 / 0 0 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 75 30 69 32 / 0 0 0 0 Corrales........................ 73 32 69 38 / 0 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 74 32 69 34 / 0 0 0 0 Placitas........................ 67 33 63 39 / 0 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 72 33 67 38 / 0 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 80 38 72 39 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 65 29 60 35 / 0 0 0 0 Tijeras......................... 66 31 62 35 / 0 0 0 0 Edgewood........................ 67 26 63 30 / 0 0 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 69 23 64 26 / 0 0 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 64 25 58 29 / 0 0 0 0 Mountainair..................... 69 28 64 31 / 0 0 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 69 30 64 33 / 0 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 74 37 68 39 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 66 31 59 34 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 64 19 53 28 / 20 20 0 0 Raton........................... 67 19 58 24 / 10 20 5 0 Springer........................ 70 22 59 27 / 0 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 65 22 57 28 / 0 0 0 0 Clayton......................... 77 28 60 34 / 10 10 0 0 Roy............................. 72 25 58 31 / 0 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 79 31 65 33 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 74 30 62 32 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 82 32 64 33 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 83 35 66 35 / 0 5 0 0 Portales........................ 84 35 67 33 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 82 32 67 33 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 86 43 69 38 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 78 35 64 35 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 75 31 63 31 / 0 0 0 0

ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Freeze Warning from midnight tonight to 9 AM MDT Saturday for NMZ201-217-218-222>224-228>234.

Red Flag Warning from 10 AM this morning to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ104-123>126.

Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 3 AM MDT Saturday for NMZ231.

Wind Advisory until 6 PM MDT this evening for NMZ213>215-240.

Wind Advisory from 11 AM this morning to 6 PM MDT this evening for NMZ223-228-229-232.

Wind Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 3 AM MDT Saturday for NMZ230-234-235.