textproduct: Albuquerque

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 459 AM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

- Hazardous crosswinds will create difficult travel for large and high-profile vehicles this afternoon and again Thursday and Friday mainly across eastern NM.

- Critical fire weather threatening rapid fire spread from any new spark returns to NM today and Thursday mainly across northeastern and east-central NM, and a majority of the state Friday.

- A hard freeze is forecast Friday night into Saturday morning across the western and northern third of NM. Take precautions to protect early blooming plants.

SHORT TERM

(Today through Wednesday) Issued at 1233 AM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

Unsettled weather continues over the Desert Southwest, highlighted by a 557dm H5 low swirling just east of Las Vegas, NV tonight. Anchored by a sampled 95kt 250mb jetmax on its southeastern periphery, this upper low is bringing convective showers and high elevation snow across northeastern AZ and northwestern NM. Rainfall amounts and snow accumulations will be light and favor west facing slopes of the Chuska and Tusas Mts tonight and early Tuesday morning. The main sensible weather impact will be from strong southwesterly winds currently over the high terrain of central and western NM, but forecast to spread to areas along and east of the central mountain chain Tuesday afternoon. Aided by deep vertical mixing tapping into H7 winds of 35 to 45 kts and a 997mb MSLP surface low over southeastern CO, peak gusts at the surface of 35 to 50 mph will threaten hazardous crosswinds for area highways of eastern NM. A Wind Advisory will be hoisted Tuesday afternoon for these favored areas including the Sacramento Mts (Ruidoso) and areas along and north of I-40 and along and east of I-25, also including Curry and Roosevelt Counties. Rapid fire spread from any new sparks will be possible in these areas as well, see Fire Weather Discussion. Much of the Rio Grande Valley from Socorro to ABQ to Santa Fe and Taos will be stuck in between the unimpressive precipitation to the northwest and stronger winds to the east Tuesday.

Winds calm Tuesday night with drier conditions moving in, which will allow for Wednesday morning low temperatures to bottom out near or below freezing for many western and northern areas. Warmer temperatures in the upper 30s and 40s hold onto the middle and lower Rio Grande Valley and eastern plains. Breezy to locally windy conditions are forecast Wednesday.

LONG TERM

(Wednesday night through Monday) Issued at 1233 AM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

Thursday sees the next Pacific storm system cross into the northwestern CONUS bringing increasing southwesterly winds to NM. Temperatures warm up alongside another bout of hazardous crosswinds for area highways for high profile vehicles Thursday afternoon. Numerical model guidance favors this system opening to a trough with its axis crossing NM Friday. Strong southwesterly to westerly winds will be favored Friday, with widespread gusts of 35 to 45 mph and peak gusts to 50+ mph across the central highlands and northeastern plains will be favored. Any precipitation with this late week system will favor areas to the north in the CO Rockies, leaving much of NM hanging out to dry.

A sharp switch to much drier and colder northwesterly and northerly winds will be ushered in behind a potent cold front late Friday. This sets the stage for a sharp cool down Friday night into Saturday morning. There is a high probability for a hard freeze across the western and northern portion of the state, with lows near freezing in Albuquerque and the middle Rio Grande Valley. This will threaten many outdoor plants that underwent their early green up back during March's unprecedented heatwave. Temperatures warm up Sunday after another morning freeze across the western and northern thirds of the state, alongside a modest uptick in moisture arriving Monday.

AVIATION

(12Z TAFS) Issued at 459 AM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

An upper level storm system is crossing the Four Corners region this morning, bringing MVFR and localized IFR conditions to the area. Will maintain TEMPO groups for lowered visibility and ceilings at KFMN and KGUP thru to 13Z and 14Z. LLWS continues for areas along and immediately east of the central mountain chain, but this will lessen thru the morning as stronger southwesterly winds expand to lower elevations. Widespread gusts of 25 to 30kts can be expected from late morning thru the afternoon today, with locally stronger gusts of 35 to 40kts along and east of the central mountain chain. Winds subside past sunset as the main storm system begins to exit the region.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 1233 AM MDT Tue Apr 14 2026

Strong southwesterly winds gusting to 35 to 50 mph alongside marginally critical humidity will produce critical fire weather conditions for areas along and east of the Sangre de Cristo and Sandia/Manzano Mountains Tuesday afternoon. Fine fuels in some areas of the east-central plains may have greened up a bit from last week's localized heavy rainfalls, notably in Roosevelt and Curry Counties. Meanwhile, elevated fire weather conditions will stretch westward into the Rio Grande Valley where winds will be a bit less and humidity a bit higher. Northwestern NM will receive colder temperatures alongside light valley and mid-elevation rain and high elevation snow.

Another round of critical fire weather conditions returns Thursday after a brief respite from the winds Wednesday. Very dry southwesterly winds pick up Thursday yielding at least elevated fire weather conditions areawide, with critical favoring the northeastern plains where the strongest winds gusting to 35 to 45 mph will reside. These conditions spread to a majority of NM Friday afternoon as wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph spread alongside humidity falling to near or below 10 percent yet again. The strongest gusts of 45 to 50+ mph will favor the northeastern plains and central highlands again. A potent cold front associated with the main storm system passing just north of NM over the CO Rockies will usher in a sharp cool down behind northwesterly and northerly winds Friday night and Saturday morning. Due to the storm system's forecast track, any precipitation will stay north of the state line with few exceptions in the Tusas and northern Sangre de Cristo Mts Friday. Winds abate Saturday with temperatures warming back up Sunday and higher humidity arriving Monday.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Farmington...................... 59 34 67 35 / 40 10 0 0 Dulce........................... 54 21 62 22 / 80 10 0 0 Cuba............................ 57 29 61 31 / 40 5 0 0 Gallup.......................... 56 23 65 25 / 50 5 0 0 El Morro........................ 55 29 61 32 / 10 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 61 26 67 28 / 10 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 60 29 63 30 / 0 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 65 36 66 38 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 59 31 62 34 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 65 26 70 29 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 69 30 74 34 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 47 21 54 25 / 90 10 5 0 Los Alamos...................... 57 35 60 38 / 20 5 5 0 Pecos........................... 60 31 62 35 / 10 5 5 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 53 29 57 32 / 20 5 5 0 Red River....................... 45 24 48 28 / 20 5 10 0 Angel Fire...................... 52 18 54 21 / 10 5 10 0 Taos............................ 58 24 62 25 / 20 5 5 0 Mora............................ 59 29 60 33 / 10 5 5 0 Espanola........................ 65 32 68 33 / 20 5 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 60 35 62 38 / 10 5 5 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 63 33 65 35 / 10 5 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 68 42 68 44 / 5 0 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 70 39 70 41 / 5 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 72 38 73 38 / 5 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 69 40 70 42 / 5 0 0 0 Belen........................... 74 35 73 35 / 5 5 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 70 39 71 41 / 5 0 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 73 34 73 34 / 5 0 0 0 Corrales........................ 71 39 72 40 / 5 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 73 36 73 36 / 5 0 0 0 Placitas........................ 65 40 66 43 / 10 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 69 40 70 41 / 5 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 76 40 75 40 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 63 37 63 39 / 5 5 0 0 Tijeras......................... 64 37 64 40 / 5 5 0 0 Edgewood........................ 65 33 65 34 / 5 5 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 67 29 66 28 / 5 5 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 63 32 62 35 / 5 5 0 0 Mountainair..................... 67 33 65 35 / 5 5 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 66 34 65 36 / 0 5 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 69 40 68 41 / 5 5 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 62 38 61 40 / 5 5 0 0 Capulin......................... 65 29 62 32 / 0 0 10 0 Raton........................... 67 28 66 29 / 0 0 5 0 Springer........................ 70 30 68 30 / 0 0 5 0 Las Vegas....................... 63 31 64 34 / 5 0 5 0 Clayton......................... 74 39 70 42 / 0 0 5 0 Roy............................. 69 35 67 36 / 0 5 5 0 Conchas......................... 78 38 76 38 / 5 5 5 0 Santa Rosa...................... 74 39 71 39 / 5 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 81 42 77 42 / 5 5 0 0 Clovis.......................... 80 45 76 44 / 5 10 0 0 Portales........................ 81 45 78 43 / 5 10 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 79 41 76 39 / 5 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 83 47 80 43 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 74 41 73 41 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 71 39 71 37 / 5 5 0 0

ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Red Flag Warning from noon today to 8 PM MDT this evening for NMZ104-123-125-126.

Wind Advisory from noon today to 7 PM MDT this evening for NMZ223-226>236-240.