We're looking at a high of 82 today, well above the normal high of 75, but the real story will be high winds kicking up this afternoon -- turning from a relatively calm 10 to 15 mph south wind this morning to westerly winds between 25 and 30 mph, gusting as high as 40 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

There's a wind advisory in effect for northern and central New Mexico from noon today to 8 tonight, with sustained winds up to 40 mph and gusts to 55 mph in much of the advisory area kicking up this afternoon.

While winds are expected to diminish somewhat after sundown, they'll kick up again on Thursday as a cold front sweeps across the state from northwest to southeast, dropping our Albuquerque area temperatures to the high 60s, low 70s.

Meanwhile, our now-familiar red flag warning -- high winds, low humidities and warm temperatures, making for critical fire weather conditions -- is in effect from 9 this morning to 11 tonight for the entire state of New Mexico.

And if you look at the national weather map, that fire-engine red covers far more than New Mexico -- including almost all of Arizona, a big swath of west Texas and points north.