Cool front could bring floods, high winds

Gusts of up to 55 mph could hit eastern parts of Albuquerque

As New Mexico welcomes rain chances and slightly cooler temperatures this week, officials are concerned about high winds and flash flooding in new burn scars.

Todd Shoemake, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque, said wildfires can completely change the landscape. Burned soil is more likely to repel water rather than absorb moisture.

“A lot of the ash and the debris and scorched vegetation that has been left behind, that can turn into debris flow and can quickly turn into a pretty dangerous situation,” he said.

A backdoor cool front on Wednesday could drop temperatures in eastern New Mexico by 15 to 25 degrees.

Severe thunderstorms are possible in Clovis and Roswell and the rest of the state’s southeast corner.

Eastern parts of Albuquerque could experience wind gusts of up to 55 mph on Wednesday night.

Thursday temperatures will reach 84 degrees in the city.

Most of New Mexico has the best chances for rain on Friday.

“As we get into Friday, maybe we’ll have a little bit better chance of some of that rainfall actually making it to the ground, and maybe a few places even getting above a tenth of an inch of rainfall,” Shoemake said.

Albuquerque has a 30% chance of rain on Friday. Las Vegas, New Mexico, has a 40% chance, and Los Alamos and Angel Fire each have a 30% chance of rain.

Teams are assessing soil burn severity across areas scorched by this year’s wildfires.

The more severe a burn, the less rainfall it takes to cause problems.

Ongoing fire activity makes complete evaluations impossible at this point, said meteorologist Scott Overpeck.

“It’s very much a work in progress,” Overpeck said. “But the thing is, the weather doesn’t care.”

Drier weather and higher temperatures are expected to return this weekend.