Drought — Lower Chama River Valley, New Mexico

2013-02-01 to 2013-02-28 · Lower Chama River Valley, New Mexico

Wider weather episode

Drought conditions persisted across the NWS Albuquerque County Warning Area (CWA).

Much of the area received below normal precipitation for the month of February. Areas in southern and southwest New Mexico, including the Upper Gila region, only received about 5-15% of normal precipitation for the month. Across much of central, western, and northwest New Mexico, percent of normal precipitation ranged from 25-50%. The eastern plains and the northeast corner of the state did fairly well thanks in large part to a major blizzard that impacted that part of the state during the last week of the month.

Severe drought (D2) conditions were present rom the Sangre de Cristo range in the north to the Chuska Mountains in the west and south to the Upper Gila region. During the first two weeks of 2013, severe drought continued in the same areas as in January, but during the second half of February there was a drastic increase in extreme drought (D3) conditions. D3 conditions expanded from mostly the eastern half of the state all the way west to near Gallup and to the southern extent of our CWA with only southwest Chaves County in D2 conditions. Exceptional drought (D4) conditions also expanded during the month. D4 continued in portions of Union and Roosevelt counties and began to develop in San Miguel County, inching into Guadalupe and Mora counties. The San Francisco River Valley in the southwest continued to stay out of D2 drought conditions. Also, portions of the far northwest highlands along the Colorado-New Mexico border began to ease out of D2 drought conditions.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 428088. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.