Cooler temperatures expected this week

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer for most of eastern New Mexico. So when will the temperatures start to feel more like fall?

Next month is when we will hit fall temperatures and stay there, said meteorologist Micheal Anand with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

But with a more active storm pattern coming in, Anand said we should finally see some rain and fall-like temperatures this week as well.

Anand said a backdoor front is coming from the Northeast, which will help cool temperatures down across eastern New Mexico.

"Roswell will finally get down below 100 we're looking by Monday. And then based on what we have for Tuesday, we're looking at temperatures in the 70s and 80s across most of eastern New Mexico with Roswell barely getting to 90 after that backdoor front moves through," he said.

"We are seeing some signs of a more active pattern once we get past (last) week and into (this) week. We're looking at the high pressure moving toward the South. And so with the increased rain chances and high pressure moving to the south, that'll help cool things off for just a little bit," Anand said.

After record-breaking temperatures in July and August, Anand said the weather pattern also predicts a relatively hot last half of September.

"We're going to have these high temperatures during the day, but at least the air is dry enough to where the mornings are much cooler now," he said.

Records from New Mexico State University's ag research center north of Clovis show the average high temperature for July and August was about 94 degrees.

The region's summer saw 14 days in which temperatures climbed above 100 degrees, including three consecutive days three times.

"So it has been a pretty hot summer. We're on track to be one of the hottest summers we've had in the state of New Mexico," Anand said.

"July was one of our hottest on record, and August was in the top five hottest on record. So it has been a really hot summer, especially in parts of eastern New Mexico, namely Roswell."

The sweltering heat is because of the placement of what's called the monsoon high, an area of high pressure that has been mainly sitting over the desert Southwest, including New Mexico and Texas, for most of the summer.

"And so when that high is over us, what that does is causes a sinking motion, and that sinking motion suppresses a lot of the monsoon thunderstorm activity. And two, when you have sinking air, sinking air heats up as well. So it's a very hot and dry setup when you're under this area of high pressure," Anand said.

The meteorologist said the fall and early winter months look dry, but he's predicting an "impactful winter" from January through March.