Drought in Southwest Chaves County, New Mexico

Severe drought conditions persisted across most of the zone due to a record warm October. Heavy rainfall was observed just northeast of the zone over the Chaves County Plains during the second half of the month.

Overall, October was record warm month for northern and central NM with dry conditions during the first half of the month. The 2nd half of the month was much wetter, especially for eastern New Mexico with Roswell observing record rainfall for a 24-hour period on October 19th resulting in catastrophic flooding across the city. This rainfall resulted in the removal of severe drought across Roswell and southern Chaves County.