ABC-7 First Alert today in Borderland for blowing dust and temperature drop

EL PASO, Texas - The ABC-7 StormTRACK Weather team issued a First Alert for Thursday and Friday for some weather changes in the forecast. The first impact will be a breezy to windy day across the Borderland, with blowing dust likely. The second impact will be a cold front that will drop our temperatures 20 degrees and bring us a chance for rain and snow for the upper elevations.

On Thursday, we can expect winds to gust up 30-35 mph across the region due to the atmospheric setup. As a low-pressure system approaches from the west, pressure gradients will tighten, combined with boundary level mixing, which will lead to a gusty afternoon. That is the basic science for you, but if it seems too difficult to understand, refer to the first sentence of this paragraph. The timing of these stronger wind gusts will likely be in the afternoon, once we get enough daytime heating to warm the surface.

On Friday, a strong back door cold front (one that moves from the east to the west) will drop our temperatures by several degrees and give a chance for some morning showers and snow showers for the Sacramento mountains. We are looking at this front to move across the region on Friday morning. A band of rain will move with it as it pushes across the area, allowing for some light rain showers in the El Paso and Las Cruces area. Snow is expected in the Sacramento Mountains, but only about 2-4 inches of accumulation is predicted to fall there.