More storms Wednesday before drier air moves in for the Fourth of July

Storms will return to parts of New Mexico again on Wednesday. Drier air will move in for the Fourth of July.

It's another active day of thunderstorms across New Mexico Tuesday afternoon. The exception is northwest New Mexico where drier air has started to move in. Some of the storms today are turning strong to even severe, with a few producing very heavy rainfall. Storms will continue to the move the east through the evening. Most will taper off overnight, but some spotty showers and thunderstorms will stick around through Wednesday morning for central, northern, and southeastern New Mexico. Another round of scattered storms will return again Wednesday afternoon, with drier air continuing to move into the northwest quarter of the state.

Drier air will move in nearly statewide for the Fourth of July. A couple isolated showers or storms may be possible in far southeast New Mexico, with an isolated storm also possible over the Sacramento Mountains. Temperatures will also be much hotter for the Fourth of July statewide.

A backdoor cold front will begin moving through northeast New Mexico Thursday evening, eventually spilling into the Rio Grande Valley Thursday night. This front will bring an increase in low level moisture, especially across eastern New Mexico. That will cause thunderstorms to develop Friday and Saturday afternoon along and east of the central mountain chain. Some of these storms will drop heavy rain over burn scar areas into th...