New Mexico (KRQE) – Snow is falling lightly in the Jemez Mountains, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the San Mateo Mountains, the Gila National Forest, and the Sierra Blanca Range, as well as light precipitation from the Mimbres Valley to the southern Rio Grande Valley, and light rain is leaving Southeast New Mexico.
Cold air is present, but not as cold as the previous morning. Most, but not all, temperatures are below freezing, with persistent westerly winds making it feel a little colder, but temperatures will rise for one more day for the majority before our next wintry pattern shifts with stronger winds.
Lower pressure aloft, combined with more upper-level moisture and varying temperatures aloft from north to south, is causing gusty showers and more clouds this morning, but skies are still mostly clear well to the north, with bitterly cold air.
Along with near-to-above-normal morning temperatures in the East Highlands through the East Plains to the Pecos River Valley, contrasting with the near-to-slightly-below-normal morning temperatures elsewhere, everywhere else is slightly starting off milder than yesterday, with westerly winds down the east slopes of the mountains.
mixing the air around while the air descends, creating that warmer effect, as well as more clouds absorbing more of yesterday’s warmth in the In some parts of the San Luis Valley, air temperatures have dropped to just below zero degrees, but most areas are now in the teens, 20s, 30s, and low 40s.
The skies will eventually clear of clouds, and precipitation will dissipate mostly in the afternoon at the cost of lower humidity with stronger westerly winds, potentially damaging along the east-sloped areas south of I-40, sparking the possibility of fires with blowing snow in the mountains and more widespread blowing dust.
Temperatures will be in the high 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s from west-northwest to east-southeast, and from high to low elevation.
Wintry weather in the form of snow will then develop overnight in the far-Northeast Highlands, signaling gusty cold front number one moving through the eastern majority of the region later tomorrow, before another reinforcing shot of colder air arrives early next week with little snow, but with even lower air temperatures.
the coldest of the season for some northeastern areas, with northerly winds resulting in life-threatening wind chills for many northern-mountain communities.
