textproduct: Albuquerque

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 413 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

- Dry and unseasonably mild weather, outside of a cooler Sunday, persists through at least late next week across central and northern New Mexico.

- Breezy winds across the central highlands of eastern New Mexico next work week will create difficult crosswinds for large and high-profile vehicles. Strongest winds are expected on Wednesday.

SHORT TERM

(This evening through Sunday night) Issued at 1209 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

The pattern across North America and beyond continues to be defined by a stark pressure height couplet with a very deep low approaching the Great Lakes and a stout ridge over the intermountain west. On the western periphery of the ridge there are also a couple of weak troughs and inconsequential circulations over the far eastern Pacific, set to come inland toward NM early next week. As the deep Great Lakes low moves toward the northeast, a potent surface high will fill in behind, overtaking the plains and sending a cold front into eastern NM through the evening. This front will spill into the Rio Grande valley tonight with a modest east wind (gusts of 15 to 25 mph) through vulnerable gaps near Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Boundary layer humidity will surge up behind the front, particularly in the far eastern plains with an easterly wind component also feeding into the Canadian valley near Tucumcari. This will spread low stratus clouds into our far eastern zones with MOS and Bufkit forecast soundings also suggesting freezing fog developing at locales like Clovis (NBM probabilities for visibility less than 1 mile are only 10% here) through Sunday morning. Low clouds and any fog that do develop will likely be stubborn to erode and dissipate through late Sunday morning and early into the afternoon hours. Otherwise, another batch of high, fair weather cirrus will move in with the ridge axis setting up overhead. Temperatures will be considerably cooler across central to eastern NM Sunday, but only the east central plains will actually drop below normal, just by a few degrees with most remaining zones staying above by 5 to 15 degrees. This will be far different than midwestern states that stay in the single digits Sunday.

LONG TERM

(Monday through Friday) Issued at 1209 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

Sunday night's temperatures will be relatively mild in most locations with a lee-side trough quickly redeveloping and steering south southwest winds back into the NM plains. The aforementioned circulations from the eastern Pacific will move into AZ Sunday night and into western NM by Monday. The absence of any baroclinicity, dynamics, or even moisture with these will make it difficult to even generate mid to high clouds over NM on Monday. The lee-side trough will set up breezy conditions over the central highlands with downsloping leading to compressional warming in the eastern plains. Look for daytime temperatures to rebound to 10 to 15 degrees above climatology over most of northern and central NM Monday.

The remnants of the weak lows/troughs will shift toward eastern NM and west TX on Tuesday with lee-side trough regeneration, continued breeziness, dry conditions, and well above average temperatures. With the lows/troughs exiting by Wednesday, the next stronger segment of the polar jet will nose into the western ConUS with speeds progged to surge up to 150-160 kt at 300 mb. While the core of the jet will stay north of NM, stronger speeds aloft will build in (40-50 kt at 700 mb near and to the lee of the Sangre de Cristos). This will translate to breezy to windy conditions over the Sangres and nearby highlands Wednesday. Pressure heights would actually rise a few decameters Wednesday with downsloping also in full force, all leading to warmer temperatures with daytime record highs for some.

A weak front will enter far eastern NM Wednesday night, setting temperatures back just a few degrees, but above average warmth will still prevail into Thursday. Dry zonal flow persists Thursday and also into Friday with temperatures soaring 15-22 degrees above normal as the work week comes to a close.

AVIATION

(00Z TAFS) Issued at 413 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

VFR conditions prevail and are forecast to persist except behind a backdoor cold front at KTCC and KROW, where MVFR and IFR conditions will develop overnight. Improvement will be slow on Sunday, especially at KROW where MVFR cigs may hold on most of the day. Northeast wind gusts to between 20-25kts will be common behind the front. The front will create a gusty east canyon wind at KABQ later this evening, but gusts are forecast to remain well below Airport Weather Warning threshold. Otherwise, winds will be light.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 1209 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

No widespread areas of critical fire weather are projected for the next several days. However, periodic above normal, and even record-breaking, temperatures will be common with dry conditions. Afternoon relative humidity will typically fall to 15-35% each day with areas to the lee (east northeast) of the highlands commonly hosting the lowest values. Light to moderate breezes (10-20 mph) will be typical with stronger bouts of gusts to 30-35 mph being more common on Wednesday along and east of the central mountain chain. Low vertical mixing heights and mostly inefficient transport winds will keep smoke ventilation and dispersion rates low through the next several days.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

Farmington...................... 28 56 29 54 / 0 0 0 0 Dulce........................... 22 57 23 57 / 0 0 0 0 Cuba............................ 24 55 27 57 / 0 0 0 0 Gallup.......................... 16 60 18 59 / 0 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 21 59 22 59 / 0 0 0 0 Grants.......................... 19 58 19 61 / 0 0 0 0 Quemado......................... 23 63 24 60 / 0 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 29 56 30 60 / 0 0 0 0 Datil........................... 25 57 26 59 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 25 66 27 67 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 30 69 29 70 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 24 51 24 52 / 0 0 0 0 Los Alamos...................... 32 51 34 55 / 0 0 0 0 Pecos........................... 26 56 32 60 / 0 0 0 0 Cerro/Questa.................... 28 53 27 53 / 0 0 0 0 Red River....................... 15 49 15 50 / 0 0 0 0 Angel Fire...................... 3 52 3 54 / 0 0 0 0 Taos............................ 21 54 21 56 / 0 0 0 0 Mora............................ 24 58 30 62 / 0 0 0 0 Espanola........................ 26 56 28 60 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Fe........................ 29 54 30 56 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Fe Airport................ 27 54 28 57 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Foothills........... 34 56 35 58 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Heights............. 35 57 34 59 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque Valley.............. 27 59 28 61 / 0 0 0 0 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 31 57 33 60 / 0 0 0 0 Belen........................... 25 58 26 60 / 0 0 0 0 Bernalillo...................... 31 58 32 61 / 0 0 0 0 Bosque Farms.................... 24 58 26 60 / 0 0 0 0 Corrales........................ 30 58 31 61 / 0 0 0 0 Los Lunas....................... 25 57 27 59 / 0 0 0 0 Placitas........................ 33 55 32 57 / 0 0 0 0 Rio Rancho...................... 31 57 33 60 / 0 0 0 0 Socorro......................... 32 59 32 61 / 0 0 0 0 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 28 53 32 56 / 0 0 0 0 Tijeras......................... 29 54 32 56 / 0 0 0 0 Edgewood........................ 24 55 29 57 / 0 0 0 0 Moriarty/Estancia............... 22 56 23 60 / 0 0 0 0 Clines Corners.................. 25 52 30 56 / 0 0 0 0 Mountainair..................... 25 57 30 59 / 0 0 0 0 Gran Quivira.................... 26 57 29 58 / 0 0 0 0 Carrizozo....................... 34 59 33 60 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 25 54 28 58 / 0 0 0 0 Capulin......................... 23 54 29 60 / 0 0 0 0 Raton........................... 21 55 25 63 / 0 0 0 0 Springer........................ 20 59 23 66 / 0 0 0 0 Las Vegas....................... 24 56 30 65 / 0 0 0 0 Clayton......................... 24 52 32 66 / 0 0 0 0 Roy............................. 23 51 26 65 / 0 0 0 0 Conchas......................... 26 56 28 66 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Rosa...................... 27 53 31 68 / 0 0 0 0 Tucumcari....................... 24 54 30 69 / 0 0 0 0 Clovis.......................... 26 48 29 63 / 0 0 0 0 Portales........................ 26 49 27 65 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Sumner..................... 26 51 27 64 / 0 0 0 0 Roswell......................... 32 50 27 62 / 0 0 0 0 Picacho......................... 29 52 31 69 / 0 0 0 0 Elk............................. 27 52 29 67 / 0 0 0 0

ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.