Drought — Southwest Mountains, New Mexico

2025-08-01 to 2025-08-31 · Southwest Mountains, New Mexico

Event narrative

Extreme drought persisted over a majority of the western half of the zone along with a small area of exceptional drought over the far southern portion of the zone.

Wider weather episode

August 2025 saw well above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation across much of western and central NM with below normal temperatures and near to above average precipitation across eastern NM. The lack of precipitation across far western NM from this monsoon season resulted in the introduction of extreme drought across the West Central and Northwest Plateau and far Northwest Highlands.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1281375. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.