Las Cruces likely to see winds pick up, but no storms, following El Paso haboob

LAS CRUCES – Winds will likely shift late Wednesday afternoon in Las Cruces following a haboob that moved across El Paso.

The National Weather Service announced multiple advisories for the west Texas and New Mexico areas Wednesday as an outflow boundary moved across the city of El Paso bringing winds, blowing dust and thunderstorms.

Meteorologist Tim Brice said it took about 30 minutes following the boundary for winds and dust to follow. He said winds will likely shift to the east in the Las Cruces area and blowing dust is possible, however it shouldn’t reduce visibility by too much.

The hot air combined with moisture in the air has produced thunderstorms over some parts of the borderland. Brice said there is only a slight chance for precipitation to reach Las Cruces.

“If I had to guess, you're going to for sure get the wind shift, you're for sure going to probably get maybe some blowing dust, but not a lot and we're just going to have to wait and see on the thunderstorms,” he said.

Las Cruces will see temperatures drop by a few degrees Thursday and slightly more moisture in the area. Brice estimated the chance of rain at about 10%. The combination of high temperatures and moisture could again result in thunderstorms, but the lack of outflow boundary Thursday likely will not allow the weather to become as severe as it was Wednesday. Lowland thunderstorms are not expected to be as widespread.

“Nothing really to change plans about, but just kind of keep an eye on kind of thing,” Brice said.

Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for Chaparral and El Paso County. Hudspeth County, Truth or Consequences, Elephant Butte, Hot Springs Landing and Hatch were all warned of winds blowing up to 50 or 60 miles per hour and the possibility of nickel to penny-sized hail.

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Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Las Cruces likely to see winds change following El Paso haboob