High winds, fire danger predicted for New Mexico
ALAMOGORDO ― Southern New Mexico was predicted to experience high winds that could cause dust storms, while certain counties were issued red flag and fire weather warnings.
"If you're in areas like Alamogordo you can definitely expect winds and dust to be blowing in from White Sands. So, a lot of areas will be getting hit with dust advisories later in the day," said Hector Crespo, senior weather forecaster for Santa Teresa Weather Station.
The AWS also issued an advisory warning for blowing dust for those cities as well as for Clovis, Los Alamos, Roswell and the Clayton area.
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Farmington and Ruidoso were predicted to experience high winds and gusts between 40 and 60 miles per hour beginning noon March 30, according to the Albuquerque Weather Service (AWS) station.
Some cities, including Clovis and Santa Fe, are expected to receive rain showers after midnight Thursday and a 30 percent chance of snow through Friday.
Sunny skies will return to much of the state March 31 with winds of 15 miles per hour, according to the AWS, though the risk of fire was still prevalent.
"This is our windy season, so we tend to have a lot of issues with winds reaching 30 to 40 miles per hour and gusts at 60 miles per hour but we can expect windy conditions for Monday, April 3 and Tuesday, April 4 as well," said Crespo.
The National Weather Service's Midland-Odessa station issued red flag warnings for portions of southern New Mexico, including Eddy and Lea counties and the Guadalupe Mountains.
In addition, those areas are fire weather warning through the afternoon of March 31. That risk was elevated, according to the NWS, because of humidity levels and continuing gusting winds.
The National Weather Service (NWS) advised residents to avoid burning to decrease the risk of wildfires, and reminded them to property dispose of cigarettes properly.