Cooler Today - Wind & Dust Tuesday.
Today's Outlook.
Gusty northerly winds are occurring along and behind a cold front as it slips southward through the local area early this morning. As of 5:30 AM the Bat Draw Raws located at the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center had recorded a peak gust of 46 mph. The Carlsbad Airport ASOS was gusting up to 32 mph, while the Artesia Airport AWOS was clocking a gust of 29 mph.
Today will be cooler behind the front and a little on the breezy side this morning. Our afternoon high temperatures are forecast to range from 54 in Hobbs, to 60 in Roswell, 63 in Artesia, and 65 in Carlsbad. Low clouds along with areas of fog and drizzle may cover parts of southeastern New Mexico this morning, and more so tonight.
High Winds - Widespread Blowing Dust
& Dangerous Fire Wx Conditions Tue!
Low clouds, fog, and areas of light drizzle are forecast to cover parts of SE NM and W TX later tonight into Tuesday morning. Clearing conditions will occur fairly rapidly tomorrow morning as the ol wind machine cranks up. Our forecast high temperatures for Tuesday range from the low 70's to the upper 70's.
Our next upper-level storm is forecast to move across northern New Mexico tomorrow. Very strong winds aloft will blanket the state tomorrow. A 140 knot or 161 mph polar jet stream will traverse the northeastern corner of the state, while a 90 knot or 104 mph jet will be located at the 500 millibar or 18,000' level. Southwesterly winds are forecast to be howling along at around 50-70 knots or 58-81 mph at the mountain top level (10,000') or 700 millibars. As the surface pressure gradient tightens up, and the strong winds aloft start to mix downward to the surface, another high wind and blowing dust event is anticipated across the area tomorrow.
A High Wind Watch remains in effect for the Guadalupe Mountains for Tuesday. Southwesterly winds are expected to increase to 35-55G75 mph. A High Wind Warning is in effect for Otero County on Tuesday for southwesterly-westerly winds of 25-35G50+ mph. A High Wind Watch remains in effect for Lincoln and Chaves Counties as well for southwesterly winds of 30-45G60 mph. We will likely see Eddy and perhaps Lea Counties added to this list later today or early tomorrow. Southwesterly winds of around 30-40G50 mph look possible across the rest of our local area tomorrow.
Widespread areas of blowing dust across S/SE/E New Mexico and parts of W TX will be possible tomorrow. Please be on the lookout for sudden drops in the visibility down to near zero in the higher wind gusts. This will be especially true over and near freshly plowed or exposed farmlands, open fields and lots, and construction sites. These sudden drops in the visibility in these areas will occur with little to no advanced warning, so please use extra caution on our local roadways tomorrow.
A Fire Weather Watch has been issued for the area for tomorrow as well. Please refrain from any type of outdoor activity that involves the use of sparks or flame. Keep your vehicles on maintained and paved roadways, and please do not toss your cigarettes out of the window of your vehicles when driving down our roadways. Any accidental fire will have the potential to rapidly spread and grow in the high winds and extremely dry conditions.
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