An approaching storm from the Pacific will cause winds to kick up over the Southwest, raising concerns for rapidly spreading wildfires.

Fires threatening Los Alamos and many other areas in the Southwest are to be driven by another round of strong winds this week.

A storm rolling onshore from the Pacific will cause southwest winds to kick up Tuesday with the worst conditions during the day Wednesday.

During the height of the strong wind episode, gusts can reach or exceed 40 mph, causing existing fires to spread downwind a mile in a matter of minutes.

The winds causing the fast-moving fires will continue to put communities and firefighters at risk.

Winds will still remain rather strong and gusty on Thursday, but should ease down Friday.

Improving Weather Anytime Soon?

There are some signs for a change that higher humidity will work into the area this weekend and beyond.

The long-awaited monsoon, which for locals is merely the part of the summer that brings moisture and the potential for thunderstorms, has been slow to non-existent thus far.

A pattern change has finally brought the return of the rainy season to Florida, although a month late for much of the Sunshine State.

The return of summer moisture to the Southwest will be a slow process, but could eventually bring spotty thunderstorm activity next week.

There is now some tropical activity in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and central America. At least a bit of that moisture will gradually lift northwestward toward the Desert Southwest.

However, it is too early to even suggest that enough moisture will arrive to bring the type of rainfall needed to substantially help the drought and fire conditions.

At least the higher humidity would help control the spread of existing fires and reduce the number of new fires.

Often thunderstorms in the Southwest bring only isolated rainfall and a great deal of lightning strikes, which, in turn, start new wildfires.

How robust the monsoon season becomes this summer is questionable at this point. On one hand, building high pressure in the Southwest would limit moisture. On the other hand, the already building tropical storm season in the Eastern Pacific Basin could allow for some flow of moisture into the southwestern United States.

The monsoon was insignificant last summer, so the odds are this season will bring more opportunities for thunderstorms.

Just keep in mind it will take a great deal of moisture or likely a tropical system to bring the amount of rainfall that is needed to break the back of the wildfire and drought situation.

A new wildfire which started this past Sunday forced evacuations in Los Alamos, N.M., as well as the closure of the National Laboratory of the same name, which builds components for nuclear weapons.