Blustery This Morning - Colder Today & Friday.

Blog updated at 8:41 AM MST.

Photo Is Courtesy Of Carrie Greenwood.

Dust Obscuring The Setting Sun In Artesia, NM Wednesday.

Satellite Image Is Courtesy Of NWS Midland.

Cloudcroft, NM At 8:24 AM MST Today.

Ruidoso, NM At 8:23 AM MST Today.

RUC 500 MB Analysis At 5 AM MST This Morning.

Map Is Courtesy Of NWS Midland.

Update at 7:50 AM MST-

Northerly winds gusting up to around 30-35 mph combined with temperatures in the upper 30's to the low 40's, is making for a chilly morning here in the Pecos Valley. Low clouds are also forming. Northeasterly winds are gusting up to near 55 mph in the Clovis and Portales areas, combined with temperatures in the mid 30's, is making for a raw morning there. Lots of blowing dust near the state line southward into the Hobbs area too.

A large cloud of dust overspread the area yesterday afternoon and evening. This dust cloud was carried northeastward and eastward out of Arizona, northern Mexico, and southern New Mexico, and into southeastern New Mexico. The visibility was reported by some local residents to have dropped down to around one mile due to the dust late yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon's high temperatures ranged from 84 at the Carlsbad Airport, to 81 at both the Roswell and Artesia Airports, and 79 at the Hobbs Airport.

Peak wind gusts yesterday include- 66 mph at Guadalupe Pass, 54 mph at the Bat Draw Raws located at the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center, 53 mph at the Caprock Raws, 53 mph in Pine Springs, 52 mph at the Dunken Raws, 52 mph at the Smokey Bear Raws near Rudioso, and 51 mph at the Sierra Blanca Regional Airport located northeast of Ruidoso. The rest of the local area experienced gusts mostly in the 35-45 mph range.

A strong cold front arrived in southeast New Mexico early this morning. It pushed into the Carlsbad area around 3:30 AM MST. After seeing the low-mid 80's for the last couple of days, today's and Friday's highs are only going to be in the 40's. There may be a couple of spots that make it up to around 50.

Snow showers are breaking out across the Sacramento Mountains as of 7 AM MST this morning. The Ruidoso area is under a Winter Weather Advisory for 1" - 3" of snow, higher totals may fall at Ski Apache. A Winter Weather Advisory also covers the Clovis, Tucumcari, and Santa Rosa areas today. They could see 1" - 3" of snow also.

Early this morning the mid-upper level low was centered in southeastern Arizona, and is forecast to slowly wobble eastward across the state before finally moving into Texas on Sunday. We have about a 20% chance of seeing some light rain and light snow showers today into Friday evening. The further north you go, the better the chances of seeing snow.

We may see a killing freeze across the local area tonight and tomorrow night. Our lows are forecast to dip down to below freezing, so some of those fruit trees may take a hit and loose their buds and blooms.

A quick warm-up will commence over the weekend into the first of next week. Saturday's highs are forecast to be in the mid-upper 50's, Sunday we should see the mid-upper 70's, and by Monday we will be right back up into the low 80's.

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!

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