Drought — Southwest Mountains, New Mexico

2025-05-01 to 2025-05-31 · Southwest Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Extreme drought persisted over the majority of the zone while exceptional drought was introduced to the southern portion of the zone.

Wider weather episode

The month of May on the whole saw near to below normal temperatures and near to above normal precipitation across the majority of New Mexico, notably the northeastern half to two-thirds of the state. Portions of south-central and southwestern NM however saw near to slightly above normal temperatures and near to slightly below normal precipitation allowing for the introduction of exceptional drought in Catron and Socorro Counties. Because of the severe to exceptional drought conditions and high fire risk across western and central New Mexico, the state governor declared a drought emergency for the entire state om May 22nd. The Navajo Nation followed suit and declared a drought emergency on May 30th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1252804. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.