Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Albuquerque, NM
Issued by NWS Albuquerque, NM
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200 FXUS65 KABQ 111147 AAA AFDABQ Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 547 AM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026 ...New AVIATION... .KEY MESSAGES... Issued at 532 AM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026 - Heat continues across eastern and central New Mexico through the weekend where there is an increased risk of heat related illnesses. Temperatures could tie or exceed record highs. - Isolated to scattered storms may threaten frequent lightning, gusty winds, hail, and heavy rainfall through Sunday. A surge of rich monsoon moisture next week may increase the risk of heavy rainfall and flash flooding Monday through Thursday. && .SHORT TERM... (Today through Saturday) Issued at 136 AM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026 A moist outflow boundary moving west over eastern NM has kept low level easterly flow in place with surface dewpoints in the 50s and 60s. Exceptionally dry air remains in place over central and western NM with surface dewpoints in the teens and 20s. This dry air will spread southeast into more of the region today with a 593dm H5 high drifting southeast into southern NM. Max temps will be very hot again with many record highs expected, including the ABQ metro. Stronger zonal flow aloft (40-60kt) will approach from the Great Basin by late this afternoon and force strong moisture advection into western NM. PWATs are forecast to rise from near 0.25" to near 1" this evening along the NM/AZ border. CAMs show scattered showers and storms forming along the higher terrain in eastern AZ then moving swiftly east into western NM. Replacing the dry air will come at the cost of strong downburst winds along and west of the Cont Divide this evening. DCAPE values are progged between 600 and 1200 J/kg with the large inverted-V profiles. A large convective outflow may surge east into the RGV between 8PM and 10PM with gusts of 35 to 45mph. Blowing dust may reduce vsbys if the boundary materializes. Saturday will be very hot again as the H5 ridge drifts east into southeast NM. More record highs are expected. Whatever moisture was able to advect east into NM will battle drier mid and upper level air lingering on the northern edge of the upper high. CAMs show meager convection with high DCAPE still leading to gusty downburst winds. The upper high will move east into west TX Saturday night and allow 700-500mb layer follow to become more south/southwest over the region for Sunday. && .LONG TERM... (Saturday night through Thursday) Issued at 136 AM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026 PWATs continue climbing Sunday and Monday with increasing coverage of showers and storms expected, especially for central and western NM. Forecast confidence on the coverage of storms with beneficial rainfall is still low to moderate. The GFS and ECMWF both show a weak ridge extending westward into southern NM from the main upper high farther east over TX. This pattern may choke off the deeper moisture and lead to greater stability over parts of the area. An upper level trough approaching from the west may provide larger- scale ascent to overcome any stability issues by Monday. The rest of next week looks downright wet with surprisingly good consensus from extended models. The upper high shifts into the southeast U.S. while an upper level low/trough develops along the West Coast. PWATs are also shown soaring to near record values for mid September. Widespread rainfall amounts between 0.50" and 1.50" are shown during the 4-day period from Monday to Thursday on the latest NBM with 90th percentile amounts >3". Given the lackluster performance of monsoon bursts this summer, forecast confidence will remain low to moderate until we get much closer. && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 532 AM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026 A small patch of low clouds near the Raton Ridge and patchy fog near Angel Fire will dissipate thru sunrise. Northwest breezes will kick up over central NM and the high terrain between 12PM and 2PM with gusts of 15 to 25KT possible thru sunset. Isolated to scattered SHRA/TS over eastern AZ will move quickly east into western NM after 1PM with the peak coverage likely from 4PM to 10PM. Wind gusts >40KT are possible with any of this activity along with patchy BLDU, brief rain, and frequent lightning in western NM. An outflow boundary from this activity may reach the RGV by 8PM. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 136 AM MDT Fri Sep 11 2026 Today will be very dry over much of northern and central NM with northwest breezes (gusts 15-25 mph), hot temps, and min humidity <15%. Severe to exceptional drought along with ERCs forecast to increase to near the 80th percentile may allow recent lightning strikes in dry fuels to perk up as new fire starts. Moisture will return quickly tonight with high-based and gusty showers and storms moving east into western NM. More lightning starts are possible in dry fuels. More of the same is expected on Saturday. Temps today and Saturday will rival many record highs. A wetter pattern will attempt to redevelop Sunday thru Thursday with low to moderate confidence on the areal coverage of wetting rainfall. Confidence is greater that max temps will trend cooler with higher humidity areawide next week. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 92 59 90 62 / 0 20 0 5 Dulce........................... 90 46 89 50 / 0 5 5 0 Cuba............................ 88 55 87 57 / 0 10 5 10 Gallup.......................... 90 54 85 55 / 30 30 5 10 El Morro........................ 85 52 82 52 / 20 20 5 20 Grants.......................... 89 57 87 56 / 20 20 10 20 Quemado......................... 85 56 83 56 / 20 20 10 30 Magdalena....................... 88 62 86 61 / 0 10 30 20 Datil........................... 84 57 82 56 / 10 10 30 30 Reserve......................... 90 56 90 55 / 40 30 50 20 Glenwood........................ 95 60 96 61 / 30 30 10 10 Chama........................... 84 49 83 51 / 0 0 10 5 Los Alamos...................... 88 61 86 62 / 0 0 20 10 Pecos........................... 89 59 89 58 / 0 0 10 10 Cerro/Questa.................... 86 54 85 56 / 0 0 5 5 Red River....................... 81 42 81 43 / 0 0 10 5 Angel Fire...................... 82 36 82 41 / 0 0 10 5 Taos............................ 90 52 89 53 / 0 0 5 5 Mora............................ 86 56 86 54 / 0 0 20 5 Espanola........................ 94 59 94 61 / 0 0 10 5 Santa Fe........................ 89 63 89 63 / 0 0 5 10 Santa Fe Airport................ 92 59 91 61 / 0 0 5 10 Albuquerque Foothills........... 94 68 94 68 / 0 5 5 10 Albuquerque Heights............. 95 66 95 67 / 0 5 0 10 Albuquerque Valley.............. 97 65 96 66 / 0 5 0 10 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 95 67 95 69 / 0 5 0 10 Belen........................... 97 64 95 64 / 0 5 0 10 Bernalillo...................... 97 65 97 67 / 0 5 0 10 Bosque Farms.................... 96 63 95 64 / 0 5 0 10 Corrales........................ 97 66 97 67 / 0 5 0 10 Los Lunas....................... 96 64 95 65 / 0 5 0 10 Placitas........................ 93 65 92 66 / 0 5 5 10 Rio Rancho...................... 96 66 96 67 / 0 5 0 10 Socorro......................... 98 70 97 69 / 0 5 10 10 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 89 61 87 61 / 0 0 10 10 Tijeras......................... 92 62 91 62 / 0 0 10 10 Edgewood........................ 93 59 91 59 / 0 0 10 10 Moriarty/Estancia............... 93 56 93 56 / 0 0 5 10 Clines Corners.................. 89 60 88 59 / 0 0 5 10 Mountainair..................... 91 59 90 59 / 0 0 5 10 Gran Quivira.................... 90 60 90 60 / 0 0 0 10 Carrizozo....................... 92 66 93 65 / 0 0 0 0 Ruidoso......................... 85 60 87 59 / 0 0 50 0 Capulin......................... 87 56 85 55 / 0 0 5 5 Raton........................... 91 53 90 53 / 0 0 5 5 Springer........................ 93 54 93 55 / 0 0 5 5 Las Vegas....................... 89 58 88 56 / 0 0 10 10 Clayton......................... 93 62 92 61 / 0 0 0 0 Roy............................. 91 59 92 59 / 0 0 0 5 Conchas......................... 99 64 99 66 / 0 0 0 10 Santa Rosa...................... 98 65 96 65 / 0 0 5 10 Tucumcari....................... 100 65 99 68 / 0 0 0 5 Clovis.......................... 99 67 102 69 / 0 0 0 5 Portales........................ 100 68 102 70 / 0 0 0 5 Fort Sumner..................... 101 65 101 68 / 0 0 0 5 Roswell......................... 103 69 103 71 / 0 0 0 5 Picacho......................... 96 65 97 64 / 5 0 20 5 Elk............................. 93 62 95 61 / 5 0 30 5 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ SHORT TERM...42 LONG TERM....42 AVIATION...42