Drought in Johnson and Bartlett Mesas Including Raton Pass, New Mexico

Severe drought conditions from July 2022 continued in August.

Thanks to one of the more active monsoon seasons in recent years, a very active pattern throughout the month of August contributed to continued improvement in New Mexico drought conditions. Eastern New Mexico, which had largely been left out of beneficial precipitation the previous month, saw a significant uptick in thunderstorm coverage during August. In fact, portions of southeast New Mexico saw precipitation totals 3 to 5 inches above normal for the month or 300% to 450% above normal. This allowed for drought conditions to significantly improve, especially across the east. Precipitation totals across western and central New Mexico were generally around 1 to 3 inches during the month with some locally higher amounts in the northern high terrain. Across the east, precipitation totals were generally 3 to 8 inches with those higher amounts across the southeast. Now about 59 percent of the state was in at least severe drought. About 10 percent of that was in at least extreme drought with less than 1 percent in the exceptional category.