textproduct: El Paso

KEY MESSAGES

Updated at 1005 AM MST Mon Feb 23 2026

- Quiet weather pattern this week with dry conditions; breezy afternoon winds Tuesday and Wednesday.

- Near record warmth on Wednesday and again next weekend, with lowland high temperatures in the lower to mid eighties.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1005 AM MST Mon Feb 23 2026

Quiet weather expected for the most part except a little breezy to low end windy days Tue/Wed. Overall the models are in very good agreement through the work week with mean ridge setting up over the Western US and the Borderland being under a warm WNW flow. This will lead to temperatures getting well above normal(10-20 degrees above) with some record highs including warmest day in Feb and earliest 90 not out of the question for KELP.

For Tue and Wed, surface low will setup over the Panhandles with a lee trough extending down into the Big Bend area. Breezy to low end windy conditions will develop, focused around the Deming area with 20-30mph winds each afternoon. This may lead to some patchy blowing dust but do not see significant impacts being felt, especially with a more west to slightly northwest direction compared to the worst case scenario out of the southwest. Winds look to stay up at least in the 5-15mph range overnight, even a little stronger on the eastern slopes of the Franklins/Organs that will keep lows pretty mild for this time of the year. Record high mins for KELP are in the mid to upper 50s and we could be close Wed or Thu morning.

A surface high building into the Midwest will help suppress the surface low development later in the week which will keep winds below even 20 mph going into the weekend. The upper ridge does start to slowly shift eastward going into the weekend and with H85 temps warming into the 25-26C range and with a continued west wind, it looks likely that records will be broken with most records at KELP 81-85 degrees and we are looking at solid 85-88 degree highs with some areas in the lower valley getting very close to 90.

AVIATION

(18Z TAFS) Issued at 1005 AM MST Mon Feb 23 2026

P6SM SKC-FEW250 through the period with light east to southeast winds shifting more west to southwest after 06Z.

FIRE WEATHER

Issued at 1005 AM MST Mon Feb 23 2026

Warm and dry conditions will prevail over the coming week. Some record highs are expected by the weekend with min RH's mainly in the teens with some 20s in the mountains. The windiest days look to be Tue/Wed but even these days maximum speeds will just be near the low end critical threshold. ERC's early on are still fairly low for this time of the year, but will quickly go up by the weekend due to the continued daily dry conditions. RFTI starts to get to near critical by levels going into Sunday. Vent rates will be good to excellent through the next several days.

PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS

El Paso 40 80 53 82 / 0 0 0 0 Sierra Blanca 37 75 49 78 / 0 0 0 0 Las Cruces 35 78 45 80 / 0 0 0 0 Alamogordo 34 75 45 78 / 0 0 0 0 Cloudcroft 33 57 39 56 / 0 0 0 0 Truth or Consequences 36 79 48 81 / 0 0 0 0 Silver City 39 70 43 70 / 0 0 0 0 Deming 32 80 45 81 / 0 0 0 0 Lordsburg 33 75 43 78 / 0 0 0 0 West El Paso Metro 38 78 51 81 / 0 0 0 0 Dell City 30 79 44 82 / 0 0 0 0 Fort Hancock 37 82 49 85 / 0 0 0 0 Loma Linda 36 71 48 75 / 0 0 0 0 Fabens 37 81 49 83 / 0 0 0 0 Santa Teresa 36 78 48 80 / 0 0 0 0 White Sands HQ 38 79 51 82 / 0 0 0 0 Jornada Range 29 79 41 82 / 0 0 0 0 Hatch 32 81 43 85 / 0 0 0 0 Columbus 37 81 50 82 / 0 0 0 0 Orogrande 35 75 43 79 / 0 0 0 0 Mayhill 37 71 46 72 / 0 0 0 0 Mescalero 31 66 40 68 / 0 0 0 0 Timberon 31 63 39 67 / 0 0 0 0 Winston 25 75 40 74 / 0 0 0 0 Hillsboro 37 79 47 80 / 0 0 0 0 Spaceport 31 78 41 81 / 0 0 0 0 Lake Roberts 23 71 30 71 / 0 0 0 0 Hurley 32 73 43 74 / 0 0 0 0 Cliff 27 76 33 78 / 0 0 0 0 Mule Creek 24 72 32 74 / 0 0 0 0 Faywood 34 73 46 74 / 0 0 0 0 Animas 35 78 45 79 / 0 0 0 0 Hachita 33 77 46 78 / 0 0 0 0 Antelope Wells 36 80 47 81 / 0 0 0 0 Cloverdale 42 75 47 74 / 0 0 0 0

EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

TX...None. NM...None.