Area Forecast Discussion
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460
FXUS64 KEPZ 140501
AFDEPZ

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service El Paso TX/Santa Teresa NM
1001 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

...New DISCUSSION, AVIATION...

.KEY MESSAGES...
Updated at 1001 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

 - Cold front arriving from the east late tonight and Sunday
   morning, dropping temperatures about 8 to 15 degrees Sunday and
   Monday. Gusty east winds up to 35 mph along west slopes of
   mountains Sunday morning.

 - Dry conditions and near record highs again by the mid portion
   of next week.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 1001 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

One last day of record/near-record temps before we revert back to
cooler weather for a few days. Again, as has been the case for
quite awhile, the eastern Pacific/Desert Southwest upper ridge
will mostly remain into mid-week next week. In the short term, the
back door cold front continues progressing west. Front shows up
weakly on IR imagery and combined with surface obs, extends from
about Raton-Vaughn-Carlsbad. This is mostly a wind shift with very
little airmass difference. The cold air and developing stratus
reside further east with the lead edge from Clayton-Tucumcari
eastward. HRRR/GFS/NAM12 all in good timing agreement, bringing
the front (wind shift) to the eastern Sacs in the next 1-2
hours; then over the RG Valley by 06-08Z and out to the Arizona
border by 15Z. Winds will increase just behind the front, with the
strongest corridor of winds south of a line from Silver City-Las
Cruces-Timberon from 06Z-18Z. West slopes of terrain in this
general area could see gusts up to 35 mph. Some stratus/fog
should form along the eastern Sacs overnight as the airmass cools
and saturates. Don`t expect any drizzle in this area and clouds
should burn off/dissipate by early Sunday afternoon. Another thing
to watch...gusty winds west of Lordsburg could stir up some playa
dust Sunday morning to early afternoon.

Otherwise looks like a quiet forecast period after Sunday. Weak
trough currently over SoCal and western Arizona will sweep
through, bringing high cloudiness in Sunday and Monday.
Temperatures both days will be some 10-15 degrees cooler than
today, but still just above normal.

Strong jet enters the NW U.S. Wednesday and Thursday, flattening
out the upper ridge into a zonal flow. Thus expect a rapid warmup
Tuesday, but especially Wed-Sat, with highs back to near record-
levels.

&&

.AVIATION...
(06Z TAFS)
Issued at 1001 PM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

Generally VFR through the period with SCT180 SCT-BKN250.
Developing along the east slopes of the Sacramento Mtns aft
08Z...SCT-BKN030 PATCHY 3SM BR. These clouds mostly dissipating
after 18Z. Surface winds behind incoming cold front increasing to
east/northeast 10-15 knots after 08Z. Areas along west slopes of
terrain could gust to 30 kts. Patchy BLDU possible west of
Lordsburg during this period. Winds diminishing to east/southeast
8-12 knots after 18Z.


&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 1005 AM MST Sat Dec 13 2025

Today will be the last real warm day until the middle of next week
as a fairly strong back door cold front moves in tonight. Expect
temperatures for Sun/Mon to be about 5-15 degrees cooler than
recent days with east winds of 10-20 mph. RH`s will also be
higher in the 25-50% range through Monday. Temperatures will
start to warm back up towards record highs by the middle of next
week with RH`s returning to the teens and 20s. Poor to low end
fair vent rates continue into early next week.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
El Paso                  62  39  64  41 /   0   0   0   0
Sierra Blanca            55  33  60  37 /   0   0   0   0
Las Cruces               60  34  61  34 /   0   0   0   0
Alamogordo               61  31  63  30 /   0   0   0   0
Cloudcroft               49  29  48  31 /   0   0   0   0
Truth or Consequences    61  37  62  37 /   0   0   0   0
Silver City              61  37  63  37 /   0   0   0   0
Deming                   64  35  65  34 /   0   0   0   0
Lordsburg                63  37  65  34 /   0   0   0   0
West El Paso Metro       60  41  62  41 /   0   0   0   0
Dell City                56  29  61  32 /   0   0   0   0
Fort Hancock             62  37  66  39 /   0   0   0   0
Loma Linda               53  35  59  39 /   0   0   0   0
Fabens                   62  37  64  37 /   0   0   0   0
Santa Teresa             60  36  61  36 /   0   0   0   0
White Sands HQ           61  39  63  41 /   0   0   0   0
Jornada Range            61  25  63  25 /   0   0   0   0
Hatch                    65  31  65  30 /   0   0   0   0
Columbus                 63  38  63  38 /   0   0   0   0
Orogrande                60  25  61  28 /   0   0   0   0
Mayhill                  57  32  64  36 /   0   0   0   0
Mescalero                58  30  59  32 /   0   0   0   0
Timberon                 54  29  56  31 /   0   0   0   0
Winston                  57  29  62  29 /   0   0   0   0
Hillsboro                61  37  64  37 /   0   0   0   0
Spaceport                61  25  62  25 /   0   0   0   0
Lake Roberts             64  24  66  27 /   0   0   0   0
Hurley                   61  34  64  34 /   0   0   0   0
Cliff                    69  23  70  27 /   0   0   0   0
Mule Creek               66  19  67  22 /   0   0   0   0
Faywood                  60  37  62  37 /   0   0   0   0
Animas                   63  36  65  35 /   0   0   0   0
Hachita                  61  35  63  32 /   0   0   0   0
Antelope Wells           63  35  65  37 /   0   0   0   0
Cloverdale               61  39  66  43 /   0   0   0   0

&&

.EPZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...None.
NM...None.
&&

$$

FORECASTER...17-Hefner