A Significant Spring Storm Impacting the Central U.S. This Week

A significant late-season winter storm will bring an expanding area of heavy snow, sleet, and freezing rain to the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Further south, severe thunderstorms are expected from the southern Plains into the southern Great Lakes. A multi-day excessive rain and flooding event will impact the Ozarks into the Ohio Valley through Saturday. Read More >

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Last Map Update: Wed, Apr 2, 2025 at 12:00:11 am MDT

Watches, Warnings & Advisories

National Weather Service NWS Flagstaff, AZ

National Weather Service Albuquerque, NM

National Weather Service NWS Tucson Arizona

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High Wind Warning

Red Flag Warning

Critical Lowland Fire Concerns

Wednesday's Wind Gusts

Wednesday's Weather

Late Week Precip/Snow

Not quite as windy Wednesday, but still quite dry across the lowlands, with winds plenty strong enough to make wildfire run faster than it can be controlled. All of the area lowlands across southern New Mexico and Far West Texas will see another day of Critical Fire Weather conditions. Thus they will be under a second consecutive day of Red Flag Warnings. Take care outdoors not to start fires, or create sparks.

While not as strong as we saw Tuesday, Wednesday's winds will still be strong. Most areas will see afternoon gusts in the 35 to 45 mph range. This means more blowing dust across the region.

The BIG Pacific storm system that brought our wind and dust Tuesday, will remain over the Western U.S. through the weekend. That means more wind and dust for Wednesday, although both are expected to be somewhat lower in impacts. We had a cool front push in from the west on Tuesday evening, so temperatures will be cooler by around 10 degrees. Winds will drop off about 10 mph, but still be quite breezy to windy through the afternoon. We still expect broad areas of haze due to blowing dust, and some local areas of dense blowing dust, but the reduced visibilities should not be quite as bad. And to finish it off, there may be some passing, mostly light showers across the Gila and northern Sacs.

Here is an early look at forecast rain and snow amounts across the region for the Friday through Sunday morning timeframe. The same huge Pacific trough that is currently bringing wind and dust to the region will linger over the Western U.S. through the weekend. Late this week, it will pass with moisture, instability, and a backdoor cold front all converging over the area to deliver lowland rain and mountain snow.

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A Significant Spring Storm Impacting the Central U.S. This Week

NWS El Paso