April Windy Season Begins

April often brings gusty west winds with dust, pollen, other allergens, and etc. Which makes this month a nasty one for those with hay fever and allergies. First wind event of this April begins this afternoon.

Forecasts of 500 mb heights and vorticity from 06 UTC NAM are shown here - above valid at 12 UTC today and below valid at 18 UTC tomorrow.  The intense, short wave over the Northwest digs rapidly (in forecasts) southeastward across the Great Basin, bringing strong, west winds southward across Arizona. 

The WRF-GFS 06 UTC forecasts of 10-m (steady) winds are shown above for 4:00 pm MST today and below for 1:00 pm tomorrow afternoon. Winds in our area tomorrow increase to around 30 kts (about 35 mph), with higher gusts expected.

Down at bottom is WRF-GFS forecast for 1:00 pm tomorrow on the 5.4 km grid - indicating much stronger winds over much of New Mexico. Forecast also shows strong winds over north-central Plains, as an April blizzard storm deepens over eastern Colorado