Drought — Northwest Highlands, New Mexico

2022-04-01 to 2022-04-30 · Northwest Highlands, New Mexico

Event narrative

Severe to extreme drought conditions from March 2022 worsened in April with widespread extreme drought conditions.

Wider weather episode

The exceptionally dry and windy conditions felt across northern and central New Mexico during the month of March only continued and even worsened during April. While the storm track remained active across the western United States, it wasn't favorable to New Mexico as these systems largely remained to the north of the state. As such, precipitation was scarce during April with amounts well below one inch. The Albuquerque area recorded only a trace of precipitation during the month, well below the normal of 0.51 inches. As these dry, windy conditions persisted, this only fueled numerous wildfire starts across northern and central New Mexico, and drought conditions only worsened with about 96 percent of the state in at least severe drought conditions. Areas of extreme to exceptional drought spread rapidly with now about 68 percent of the state in these categories, and about 16 percent of that in exceptional drought.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1012116. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.