Windy, dry conditions enhance fire danger across New Mexico

Weather forecasters warned of an extreme fire risk across much of New Mexico on Sunday as high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation formed ideal conditions for fast-moving wildfires.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center forecast an extreme risk for wildfires across a large swath of central and southern New Mexico and far West Texas, including the cities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. A less severe risk extends across much of the rest of New Mexico and into large portions of Colorado.

“It’s a typical setup for fire weather, especially across the high plains,” said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. “So if any fires start, they can spread pretty rapidly.”

There’s a relatively slight risk for severe weather across much of the rest of the country on Sunday, but a strong system pushing across the western U.S. is expected to trigger severe thunderstorms as it moves into the Upper Midwest on Monday, forecasters said.

There is a potential for very large hail, strong tornadoes and damaging winds beginning Monday afternoon and into the evening across large portions of Iowa, southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin, according to the Storm Prediction Center.