Breezy. Mostly cloudy with isolated rain and snow showers. Colder. Lows in the 30s. Southwest winds 10 to 20 mph increasing to west 15 to 25 mph after midnight. Gusts up to 35 mph.
Saturday
Breezy. Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain showers. Highs in the mid 40s to lower 50s. West winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph.
... Wintery weather possible for northern and central New Mexico this weekend...
The mild November weather northern and central New Mexico has experienced is looking more and more likely to be coming to an abrupt end this weekend.
Strengthening southwest winds aloft will continue to bring periods of cloudiness... as well as breezy to windy conditions to the region tonight and Friday. In addition... moisture will continue to increase... leading to the development of rain and high elevation snow showers over the northwest third of the state late tonight through Friday night. Snow accumulations will range from an inch or two to around 5 inches mainly at elevations above 8000 feet over northwest and north central New Mexico. For the most part... temperatures Friday will be cooler... but will remain above average for mid November.
On Saturday... a much colder storm system will intensify over Utah... and sink southeast towards New Mexico. At the same time... a surface front will be draped over far northeast New Mexico. Rain and mountain snow showers will become more widespread over the region... especially Saturday night and Sunday. Temperatures... while cooling some more Saturday... are expected to plunge Sunday as the upper low moves overhead. Significant snow accumulations will be possible across the northern mountains. Elsewhere... snow levels will likely reach valley bottoms... with snow also possible over the northeast and east Central Plains. Brisk north to northwest winds may also Rake northern and central New Mexico Sunday.
Forecast models have trended towards a slower moving storm system... and have also suggested this storm may end up tracking farther south into New Mexico. As the exact path of this system remains somewhat in doubt... stay tuned to your favorite weather information source for the latest forecasts and statements.
Public Information Statement
Statement as of 6:25 PM MST on November 12, 2009
... NOAA Weather Radio to remain out of service across northern and central New Mexico through early Friday...
A communications failure has caused a NOAA Weather Radio outage throughout northern and central New Mexico. State technicians have been on site all day troubleshooting the problem. Some transmissions are being broadcast intermittently... but it has been determined that additional parts will be needed to fully complete this unforeseen maintenance. Technicians will be working earnestly to resolve the issue as soon as possible... however the intermittent outages are expected to last through much of Friday morning.
We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
For complete weather information... please visit the National Weather Service website at weather.Gov/abq.