Drought — West Central Plateau, New Mexico

2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · West Central Plateau, New Mexico

Event narrative

Severe drought was removed from the central swath of the zone thanks to beneficial moisture from several winter storms, while remaining persistent across the northern fourth of the zone.

Wider weather episode

January saw mostly near normal precipitation across northern and central NM on the whole, resulting in most areas seeing a static state in drought conditions. There were pockets of above normal precipitation focused over the northeastern plains, mainly Colfax and Union Counties, thanks to a blizzard that dumped heavy snow on the region in early January. Areas along the Continental Divide saw near to slightly above normal precipitation in west-central NM which led to a one or two categorical improvement in drought conditions there.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1150940. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.