Cold front bringing freezing temperatures

Northern NM to bear the brunt of ‘big weather system’

A strong cold front is expected to bring snow to northern New Mexico near the Colorado border.

It’s also expected to bring plunging temperatures throughout much of the state, with some areas receiving their first freezing temperatures of the season, National Weather Service meteorologists said in a Monday afternoon briefing.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty with this system,” meteorologist Kerry Jones said. “But we’re pretty solid on the cold temperatures. … Temperatures are going to drop substantially into Thursday.”

He said the state will be getting “a piece of a big weather system” that is organizing over the central Rockies and will drop southeast Wednesday night.

Snow is expected to fall in the northcentral and northeastern parts of the state late Wednesday through Thursday, and possibly linger into early Friday. Jones said some areas could receive up to 4 inches of snow.

“If we do see an impact, it will be up in Raton, near the Colorado border, or Red River,” Jones said.

But a large area will have freezing temperatures, Jones said, with areas south of Albuquerque such as Socorro and Roswell experiencing their first freeze of the sea

son. High temperatures are expected to be 10 to 15 degrees below normal.

Some areas could have as much as a 30-degree drop in high temperatures, which could be the case in Roswell, where Wednesday’s high is expected to be 82 degrees and Thursday’s high is forecast to be 52.

The high in Albuquerque is expected to be 71 Wednesday and 56 Thursday. Santa Fe will go from a high of 67 to a high of 50.

Temperatures are expected to rise Tuesday and Wednesday throughout much of the state before the cold front moves through.

Breezy conditions are likely in some areas, although the winds will not be as strong as they were Sunday and Monday.

Gradual warming and dry conditions are expected Friday and into the weekend.

Meteorologists discussed the winter outlook during the briefing.

Above-normal temperatures are in the forecast for the winter, with precipitation amounts expected near normal after a wetter than usual winter in 2018-19.