Jeff, Kelli and Mudflap

Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.It was a windy and nasty day across the South Plains with dirt and dust blown all around the region. Almost everybody saw wind speeds over 30mph with many locations reporting wind speeds upwards of 40mph. Click here for a look at the wind speeds recorded on the West Texas Mesonet sites. You can see how our temperatures faired in the graphics below.      The wind will calm to a light breeze overnight with temperatures cooling to around average for this time of the year. We will see temperatures that are some 10-15 degrees above average tomorrow afternoon as we warm into the upper 60s and lower 70s. The wind won’t be nearly as bad tomorrow although it still will be somewhat breezy, about 10-20mph from the southwest.On Wednesday the wind will really pick up and that will be the big story this week. The National Weather Service has already issued a High Wind Watch for the entire South Plains in anticipation for the very strong wind on Wednesday. Right now it looks like we will be dealing with sustained wind speeds from 30-40mph with gusts up to 60mph. This is similar to what we saw on Friday although it doesn’t look like we will see any storms this time. Wind this strong will at the least blow around some dust and dirt but could also cause some minor damage. With this being the holiday season a lot of people have various outdoor decorations setup. We recommend that you make sure these are tied down tightly or better yet if you can just bring them inside for the day.A cold front will move through late Wednesday into early Thursday ushering in cooler air and eventually calming the wind by Thursday afternoon. This cool down will be short lived as we warm back into the 60s by the weekend. The next storm system will swing by at the beginning of next week but right now it looks like it will mainly affect the eastern side of the state. This could change as it is still a week away so we will keep close tabs on it and keep you updated.   I will have more on the wind today and over the next couple of days tonight on the News at Nine. Matt will have the next forecast update for you first thing tomorrow morning.-Rudy